Using AI to assist complex coronary intervention for elderly patients
The intervention for an 81-year-old patient was just performed at the Vietnam Heart Institute, within the framework of the annual international scientific conference of the Vietnam Heart Institute - Bach Mai Hospital taking place this weekend in Hanoi.
According to the interventional team, the patient is an 81-year-old man with a history of hypertension, diabetes, and dyslipidemia, diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome. Previously, a lower-level hospital attempted to intervene in the left anterior descending artery branch but failed due to severe calcification spreading across all three branches.
At the Vietnam Heart Institute, the team applied a series of solutions including intravascular ultrasound combined with AI to accurately assess the lesion structure, using cutting balloon angioplasty and atherectomy to break up the atherosclerotic plaque, saving the patient's life.
The Heart Institute stated that techniques currently applied at the institute as well as at some specialized cardiovascular medical facilities in Vietnam, such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI), pulsed-field ablation for atrial fibrillation, etc., have all approached the most advanced interventional trends in the world, similar to major cardiovascular centers globally.
According to Mr. Đào Xuân Cơ, Director of Bach Mai Hospital, in the past 2025, the Vietnam Heart Institute performed over 14,000 cardiovascular interventions and over 1,400 high-tech heart surgeries, including techniques such as TAVI, transcatheter mitral valve repair, pulsed-field ablation for atrial fibrillation, etc., aiming to reduce mortality, complications, and improve patients' quality of life.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trần Song Giang, Deputy Director of the Vietnam Heart Institute, many cardiovascular diseases are related to lifestyle: people who drink a lot of alcohol are prone to alcoholic cardiomyopathy; people who are overweight, obese, physically inactive, with metabolic disorders are prone to coronary artery disease and heart failure; or untreated hypertension can easily cause heart failure, stroke, and retinal hemorrhages leading to vision loss.
This conference featured 59 in-depth scientific sessions, 196 reports with the participation of 172 speakers from 13 countries, attracting 700 doctors and researchers attending in person and 2,000 online participants, all aiming to utilize high technology in diagnosing and treating cardiovascular diseases.
