King’s integrates state-of-the-art AI to advance cardiac care

Ultreon 3.0 Software, developed by Abbott Vascular, is helping cardiologists at King’s College Hospital make quicker and more accurate decisions while carrying out angioplasties for people with coronary artery disease.

A coronary angioplasty is a procedure used to widen the main blood vessels supplying the heart, which have become blocked or narrowed. Most angioplasty procedures involve inserting a short wire mesh tube, called a stent, into the artery during the procedure. The stent is left in place permanently to allow blood to flow more freely.

The pioneering imaging technology uses advanced AI techniques during an angioplasty to provide detailed images directly from within a patient’s blood vessel, allowing cardiologists to identify areas of plaque build-up that are likely to break and cause blood clots in real time. The software also allows clinicians to assess how blood is flowing through a patient’s blood vessels, increasing accuracy and precision during coronary stent procedures.

This latest software is currently used in a small number of major heart centres worldwide, and was rolled out to patients at King’s in April 2026.

Up to 500 patients at the Trust are expected to benefit from this procedure every year.  Dr Nilesh Pareek, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist at King’s, and his team are also leading the training of other sites across the U.K. for this software.

Dr Pareek said: “Over recent years, we have seen huge strides in the development of AI technology, helping transform cardiac care for patients and improve efficiency, and we’re extremely proud to be leading the way in this field. Up to 500 patients at King’s are expected to benefit from this procedure every year, and this latest step forward enables us to improve our decision making and selection of diseased arteries for stenting procedures.

“By supporting the training of other sites across the U.K. in this new technology, we hope to help make sure as many patients as possible can benefit from this latest AI tool.”