• Five-year research project unites 42 public and private partners across 17 countries to conduct 22 clinical studies involving 14,000+ patients; first patients will be enrolled this month
• Project aims to help cardiac patients avoid deterioration through early, personalized interventions delivered across the cardiac care journey
• Interventions will be co-created with patients and designed to systematically address socioeconomic, sex- and gender-related and digital access gaps
• With a total budget of EUR 27.6 million, the project is co-funded by the European Union Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) and industry partners
• Circle CVI brings expertise in AI-enabled cardiovascular MR and CT image analysis, supporting the consortium’s focus on earlier diagnosis, personalized risk assessment and imaging-guided care.
  
  

CALGARY, Alberta, Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Circle Cardiovascular Imaging (Circle CVI), a provider of AI-enabled cardiovascular imaging software, today announced its participation in EXIT-CVD, a five-year research project bringing together 42 public and private partners across 17 countries. Co-funded by the European Union’s Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) and industry partners, the consortium is led by University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) and Philips and aims to transform how cardiovascular disease is detected, monitored and treated. The project will conduct 22 clinical studies involving more than 14,000 patients, investigating opportunities to prevent disease before it develops, reverse disease progression or halt deterioration in advanced disease. Patient enrollment for the first studies is scheduled to begin in October 2026.

Cardiovascular health is fundamental to overall health and well-being, yet more than 60 million people in the European Union are living with cardiovascular disease. For many, the condition significantly reduces quality of life and well-being. Without early detection, timely diagnosis and appropriate treatment, cardiovascular disease can progress silently from early risk factors to established disease and ultimately, cardiac events that may lead to premature death.

“Our vision is a future where heart disease is no longer an irreversible pathway,” said Professor Pim van der Harst, Project Coordinator of EXIT-CVD and Head of Cardiology at the University Medical Center Groningen. “By understanding both the biological and social drivers of cardiovascular disease, and deploying integrated innovations across diagnostics, monitoring, and care, we can empower patients and clinicians to exit the disease continuum before it’s too late.”

“For more than 30 years, we have viewed cardiovascular disease as a continuous journey, from risk factors such as hypertension, to atherosclerosis, a first cardiac event and ultimately, for many patients, heart failure,” said Robin Nijveldt, Chief of Cardiology at UMC Utrecht. “Yet most of us improve care within our own specialty and rarely have a complete view of the patient’s experience. EXIT-CVD is an ambitious effort to build that holistic view together, helping transform cardiac care for millions of patients across Europe.”

The EXIT-CVD clinical studies will focus on the three key exit points along the cardiac care journey: early detection through digital monitoring (early exit), personalized risk assessment and targeted interventions (mid exit), and advanced therapies to support recovery in later-stage disease (late exit). By combining diagnostics, digital tools and advanced therapeutic approaches, EXIT-CVD aims to deliver actionable, evidence-based strategies that can be implemented across diverse healthcare systems in Europe.

Innovation that reaches everyone
New diagnostics and digital tools often reach well-resourced populations first, widening gaps in access and outcomes. The project will therefore embed implementation science and equity-by-design principles to ensure that the solutions are scalable, sustainable, and accessible to all relevant populations, including those historically underserved. A digitally enabled, FAIR-compliant data platform aligned with the European Health Data Space (EHDS) will support the integration, evaluation, and real-world scalability of the project's innovations.

“Advanced cardiovascular imaging can help clinicians understand not only what disease looks like today, but how it may progress and where intervention could make a difference,” said Erkan Akyuz, CEO at Circle Cardiovascular Imaging. “EXIT-CVD brings together the clinical, technology and patient perspectives needed to explore those opportunities across the care journey. We are proud to join this collaboration and bring our expertise in AI-enabled image analysis to its ambition of earlier, more personalized cardiovascular care.”

Circle CVI brings expertise in AI-enabled cardiovascular image analysis through its cvi42 platform, which combines cardiac MR and CT analysis, coronary plaque quantification, and tools for structural heart and electrophysiology procedure planning within a unified environment. Its capabilities include assessment of cardiac function, blood flow, myocardial tissue characteristics and coronary artery disease, helping clinicians translate complex imaging data into quantitative findings. This expertise aligns EXIT-CVD’s emphasis on imaging-guided disease stratification and personalized clinical decision-making.

Clinical studies
The EXIT-CVD research consortium will conduct a total of 22 clinical studies involving more than 14,000 patients across Europe, including:

• Camera-Based In-Hospital Monitoring (CARDIO-CAM study): Deployment and evaluation of an unobtrusive, video-based patient monitoring system that continuously captures cardiorespiratory signals and relevant clinical context.
• Spectral CT for Early Detection, Risk Stratification and Personalized Patient Care Pathways (LEADER-PAD study): Development and validation of new approaches for the early detection of cardiovascular disease in asymptomatic and low risk symptomatic patients using spectral CT.
• Nurse/HCP-Led Remote Heart Failure Monitoring (REMODEL-HF study): Multinational randomized study evaluating the Heart Failure Management System (HFMS), a non-invasive remote monitoring technology, in patients recently hospitalized for heart failure, with the objective of improving outcomes and optimizing guideline-directed medical therapy.
• Imaging-Guided PCI Randomized Trial (GUIDANCE-PCCT study): Evaluation of clinical and procedural outcomes of PCI guided by photon counting CT versus standard angiography-guided PCI.
• Advanced Imaging in Infiltrative Cardiomyopathies (NOTIFY-2 study): Validation of AI-driven image and ECG analysis algorithms to improve early diagnosis of Left Ventricular Hypertrophy (LVH) and underlying disease risk stratification.
  
  

Consortium partners
The IHI EXIT-CVD public-private partnership comprises 42 partner organizations from 17 countries:

• Clinical and academic partners: Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Spain), Politecnico di Milano (Italy), University of Pavia (Italy), Centro Cardiologico Monzino (Italy), EOC (Switzerland), KU Leuven (Belgium), NIKARD (Poland), UMC Utrecht (Netherlands), UMC Groningen (Netherlands), Technical University Eindhoven (Netherlands), Universitätsklinikum Köln (Germany), King’s College London (UK), London School of Economics and Political Science (UK), and Varsinais-Suomen Hyvinvointialue (Finland).
• Industry partners: Philips, Circle CVI, GE Healthcare, Siemens Healthineers, HeartBeam, Medtronic, Huawei, XVIVO Perfusion, AstraZeneca, Cardiomed, Megi Health, Viatris, Cordys, Novartis, Corbotics, ZOLL, Sanofi, Repairon, Johnson & Johnson MedTech Heart Recovery, Onsentia, and CogStack
• Healthcare consultancy: Bridg Ou and IQVIA Solutions
• Patient organization: Stichting VrouwenHart
• Medical association: European Society of Cardiology (ESC)
  
  

More information can be viewed on the EXIT-CVD website.

This project is supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) under grant agreement No 101253160. The JU receives support from the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation program and COCIR, EFPIA, Europa Bío, MedTech Europe, and Vaccines Europe. Funded by the European Union, the private members, and those contributing partners of the IHI JU. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the aforementioned parties. Neither of the aforementioned parties can be held responsible for them.

For further information, please contact:

[email protected]

Circle Cardiovascular Imaging (Circle CVI) develops AI-enabled software for cardiovascular image analysis, visualization and reporting. Its flagship platform, cvi42, brings together cardiac MR, cardiac CT, vascular CT, structural heart planning and electrophysiology planning tools in a unified, vendor-neutral environment. Designed for clinical and research workflows, Circle’s solutions combine automated analysis, quantitative assessment and integrated reporting to support efficient, reproducible cardiovascular imaging. For more information, visit www.circlecvi.com.