What will we ask to artificial intelligence for cardiovascular medicine in the next decade

Artificial intelligence (AI) comprises a wide range of technologies and methods with heterogeneous degrees of complexity, applications and abilities. In the cardiovascular field, AI holds the potential to fulfil many unsolved challenges, eventually translating into improved patient care. In particular, AI appears as the most promising tool to overcome the gap between ever-increasing data-rich technologies and their practical implementation in cardiovascular research, in the cardiologist routine, in the patient daily life and at the healthcare-policy level. A multiplicity of AI technologies is progressively pervading several aspects of precision cardiovascular medicine including early diagnosis, automated imaging processing and interpretation, disease sub-phenotyping, risk prediction and remote monitoring systems. Several methodological, logistical, educational and ethical challenges are emerging by integrating AI systems at any stage of cardiovascular medicine. This review will discuss the basics of AI methods, the growing body of evidence supporting the role of AI in the cardiovascular field and the challenges to overcome for an effective AI-integrated cardiovascular medicine.