MAC is a chronic condition in which calcium deposits build up in the mitral valve ring. Although often discovered incidentally, studies have linked MAC with increased cardiovascular risk, including higher rates of mortality and complications in structural heart procedures. Despite its significance, MAC is often not quantified or consistently reported on routine chest CTs. By automatically identifying and quantifying MAC on the chest CT scans patients already receive for non-cardiac indications, Bunkerhill MAC brings consistency and scale to an overlooked but important finding.

The algorithm was developed and tested using data from Bunkerhill’s multi-institutional research consortium of 25+ leading academic medical centers. For this clearance, data from seven consortium sites were included, among them Emory University, Thomas Jefferson University and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). This clearance represents one of the broadest academic collaboration efforts yet applied to the development of an FDA-cleared AI algorithm.