As more people are diagnosed with conditions like obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and sleep apnea, another serious health issue is also on the rise: advanced chronic liver disease, which can lead to liver scarring or cirrhosis.
Often, people don’t know they have liver disease until it’s too late and symptoms appear—such as yellowing skin (jaundice), swollen belly, or internal bleeding. At that stage, the disease has usually already done serious damage.
To tackle this growing problem, researchers at the Mayo Clinic have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps doctors spot liver disease before symptoms begin. This allows treatment to start earlier, which can prevent the disease from becoming irreversible and may help patients avoid needing a liver transplant.
The study was led by Dr. Doug Simonetto, a liver disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic, and was published in the journal Nature Medicine. He explains that chronic liver disease gets worse over time, and early treatment is the best way to stop it from progressing too far. The sooner doctors can find the disease, the better chance a patient has to stay healthy.
The AI tool works by analyzing results from a common and painless heart test called an electrocardiogram, or ECG. This test measures the electrical activity of the heart.
While it’s usually used to detect heart problems, the Mayo Clinic team discovered that it can also reveal signs of liver disease. That’s because liver problems can affect how the heart works by increasing pressure in certain areas.
The researchers trained the AI to look for patterns in ECG results from more than 11,000 patients at the Mayo Clinic. The AI was able to find twice as many cases of advanced liver disease compared to traditional methods. These new cases were then confirmed using scans and blood tests.
Many of the patients found by the AI had no idea they were sick. Dr. David Rushlow, a family doctor at the Mayo Clinic and co-author of the study, said that this tool gave them a chance to get treated early—possibly even saving their lives. It didn’t just find a disease; it gave people hope for better health by acting early.
The study involved 248 doctors across different Mayo Clinic locations. According to Dr. Rushlow, this AI tool proved especially valuable because it used a simple, noninvasive, and low-cost test to find people who were at risk. The project was a real-world test of how AI can help patients in everyday medical settings.
The researchers now plan to keep following the patients who were newly diagnosed using this AI tool to track their health over the next two years. This work is part of a larger Mayo Clinic effort called the Precure initiative. The goal is to create tools that help doctors catch and treat diseases before they become dangerous or difficult to manage.
This study is just one example of how artificial intelligence is changing medicine. By combining simple tests with smart technology, doctors may soon be able to find and treat serious diseases earlier, giving patients a better chance at a healthy future.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about Healthy liver, happy life: new advice for keeping your liver in top shape and findings of Ibuprofen may have significant impact on the liver.
If you care about liver health, please read studies about Fatty liver disease linked to severe infections and findings of A new drug for weight loss and liver health.
The study is published in Nature Medicine.
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