This problem led Mayo Clinic researchers to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) model that resulted in twice the number of advanced chronic liver disease diagnoses in patients without symptoms, helping physicians treat them before the disease had progressed.

“Chronic liver disease is a progressive condition, so the sooner we can diagnose it, the sooner we can stop it from advancing to irreversible stages. Early intervention may decrease the likelihood that a patient will need a liver transplant in the future,” says Doug Simonetto, M.D., a Mayo Clinic transplant hepatologist and lead author of the study published in Nature Medicine.