Foundation Model Artificial Intelligence for Electrocardiogram Detection of Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis
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Background
Rheumatic mitral stenosis (RMS) disproportionately affects low-resource settings where echocardiography is limited. We evaluated foundation model (FM) feasibility for RMS detection using limited, indirectly labeled ECGs.
Methods
An ECG-FM was fine-tuned using 804 RMS-positive ECGs per fold and externally validated across clinical and wearable lead configurations.
Results
Internal AUROCs were 0.89, 0.87, and 0.87, for 12-Lead, 6-Lead, and 1-Lead respectively. External AUROCs were 0.82, 0.80, and 0.77. Performance remained comparable across demographic subgroups.
Conclusions
FM fine-tuning enables RMS detection using limited ICD-derived labels, supporting further evaluation of reduced-lead ECG screening and echocardiography triage in resource-constrained settings.
