Four-second eye scan detects coronary artery disease with 80 per cent accuracy

The scan, developed by a team at The University of Western Australia (UWA) including biomedical engineer Dr Hadi Afsharan and cardiologist Professor Girish Dwivedi, uses polarisation in addition to standard light to detect changes in blood vessel walls, including thickening and structural breakdown. It does not require eye drops, and analysis takes less than 30 seconds.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is Australia's leading cause of death. Calcium scoring is non-invasive but exposes patients to radiation and does not detect soft plaques, which Dr Afsharan described as “the most important factor in heart attacks”.

On Wednesday, the Heart Foundation awarded its Vanguard Grant, its most prestigious funding grant for research, to Dr Afsharan.

The scan produces a single score akin to a body mass index for blood vessels. "Our early results are very encouraging. People with heart disease have clearly different scores from those without it, and the scores rise as the disease gets worse," Professor Dwivedi said. "We turn them into one simple score, a bit like body mass index, but for your blood vessels."

The field of oculomics, using eye imaging and artificial intelligence for health screening, is about a decade old, said Professor Jason Kovacic, chief executive of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute. He said that, to his knowledge, the technology had not undergone major clinical trials to prove efficacy in changing management or reducing rates of heart attack, stroke or death.

Another limitation is that current findings depend on expert interpretation of scans. Professor Hosen Kiat, a cardiologist and co-founder of TAIK Health, said AI would make integration easier. "With AI it will be easy to integrate all this data so that it is the press of a button and the rest is done by a database based on thousands and thousands and thousands of retinal vessels."

The team plans to train the AI model on more patients, compare the eye scan with standard heart tests, and give the equipment to other hospitals for independent testing. After that, it plans to trial a portable version in local optometrists and GP clinics. The scan will need regulatory approval before routine use, and the process may take up to five years.

"If all goes well, a quick eye scan during a routine check-up could tell us who needs a closer look at their heart," Professor Dwivedi said. "That would mean finding heart disease earlier, and sparing many people tests they do not need."

The development builds on growing evidence linking eye health to heart disease. A 2025 study found an eye scan could predict the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke within a decade with 70 per cent accuracy. A study published in September found that people with thinning retinal layers had a 27 per cent higher risk of atrial fibrillation.