Curious if you're at risk for two common heart conditions? Your doctor may decide to check your heart shape.

Researchers at the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai have found that patients who have round baseball-shaped hearts are more likely to develop heart failure and atrial fibrillation in the future than those who boast a longer organ with the traditional shape drawn on Valentine's Day.

The researchers' findings, published in Med, Cell Press' new peer-reviewed medical journal, used deep learning and advanced image analysis to study the genetics of heart structure and their results were revealing. These scientists hypothesized that, in addition to size and function, the shape of the heart could provide additional information about this vital muscle.

"We found that people with spherical-shaped hearts were 31% more likely to develop atrial fibrillation and 24% more likely to develop cardiomyopathy, a type of heart muscle disease," said David Ouyang, a cardiologist at the Smidt Heart Institute and a researcher in the Division of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine.

To reach this conclusion, the researchers analyzed cardiac MRI scans of 38,897 healthy people from the UK Biobank. In addition, using this same database, they used computational models to identify genetic markers of the heart that are associated with these heart conditions.

"Looking at the genetics of sphericity, we found four genes associated with cardiomyopathy: PLN, ANGPT1, PDZRN3 and HLA DR/DQ," Ouyang explains. "The first three genes were also associated with an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation."

The latter heart condition, the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm disorder, greatly increases a person's risk of stroke. The condition is increasing in prevalence and is projected to affect 12.1 million people in the U.S. by 2030.

As for cardiomyopathy, this is a type of heart muscle disease that makes it difficult for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body and, over time, can lead to heart failure. The main types of cardiomyopathies (dilated, hypertrophic, arrhythmogenic and restrictive) affect 1 in 500 adults.

Cedars-Sinai cardiologists note in their paper that the shape of the heart changes over the years and usually becomes rounder over time and especially after a major cardiac event such as a heart attack.

"A change in heart shape can be a first sign of disease," said Christine M. Albert, chair of the Department of Cardiology at the Smidt Heart Institute and also an author of the study. "Understanding how a heart changes when faced with disease, and providing more reliable and intuitive imaging to support this knowledge, is a critical step in preventing two life-altering diseases."

Ouyang says the findings provide a clearer focus on the potential use of cardiac imaging tomore effectively diagnose different conditions and prevent many conditions, although he acknowledges that more studies are needed.

"Large biobanks with cardiac imaging data now offer the opportunity to analyze and define variation in cardiac structure and function that was not possible with traditional approaches," explains Ouyang, adding: "Deep learning and computer vision also enable faster and more comprehensive cardiac measurements that can help identify genetic variations affecting a heart. , up to years or even decades before obvious heart disease develops."

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