General News
22 July, 2025
World-first research at Lister House
TESTING for early detection of heart problems using Artificial Intelligence tools is being trialled in Horsham through a Perth university program in conjunction with Lister House Medical Clinic.
The University of Notre Dame has been running a pioneering heart failure research project in select locations across Australia and they were looking for more participants to be a part of the local program.
AI technology has helped shrink the machine required to about the size of a laptop bag and will enable practice nurses run echo image tests with a probe to detect early heart failure in participants.
This project is free and consists of a one-hour appointment with a heart nurse where the subject will undergo a health check including an electrocardiogram (ECG), blood pressure check, blood test to look for heart stress and a cardiac echo.
Local registered nurse, Casey Kosch, said the technology was a great leap forward.
“It’s just really fantastic,” she said.
“It’s portable, it's very user friendly so it's actually easy for the nurses, and it's very non-invasive as well.”
She said there was no pain involved for the patient and was attracted to the program as she had “spent my whole life in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) and ED (Emergency Department) where I see that end stage happen” and saw the benefit in early detection.
She said the project was headed by Professor Simon Stewart who had published “over 600 articles” and “worked in the heart failure industry all over the world”.
“This technology is unbelievable,” Ms Kosch said.
“I love the team we have and to be a part of a world-first project is very humbling.”
She said it had only just started and they were hoping for “a few hundred people to come into the project”.
But there was specific criteria for participants:
To be eligible for the project, subjects must be 60 years and over, have a documented history of hypertension, diabetes, or existing form of heart disease (CAD, AF, valve disease) and live independently at home, with no previous diagnosis of heart failure.
Conversely, criteria that would exclude potential participants would include the following:
• Current chest-pain (always call 000 for an ambulance)
• Chronic airways disease (COPD)
• Palliative condition (eg. cancer, kidney failure)
• Language barrier / unable to give informed consent
• Unwilling to consent
Ms Kosch said there was some further medical criteria which would be checked when people arrive for the appointment.
She hoped locals would jump on board to help the project, as the advent of AI tools in medicine would benefit many.
“I'm getting really excited about it, because I can see the benefits throughout Australia, if this could be rolled out,” Ms Kosch said.
With a current waiting list of approximately two weeks, eligible members of the community can contact Lister House directly for an appointment or via the HotDoc app.