The Sant Pau Research Institute (IR Sant Pau) has secured two competitive grants from the Strategic Plan for Health Research and Innovation (PERIS) 2022–2027, a program of the Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia designed to strengthen applied research within the Catalan healthcare system. This funding will enable progress in developing artificial intelligence tools aimed at improving diagnosis and clinical decision-making in two highly time-dependent medical emergencies: acute myocardial infarction and stroke. In total, IR Sant Pau has received 129,735 euros under the medical technology and digital health category.
The first funded project is RAPID-AIM, co-led by Dr. Matías E. Calandrelli, cardiologist at the Cardiology Department of Hospital de Sant Pau, specialized in cardiac imaging and the application of digital technologies to clinical practice, together with Dr. Martín Descalzo, coordinator of Cardiac MRI in the Cardiac Imaging and Function Unit. They will develop an autonomous clinical agent capable of interpreting electrocardiograms from a simple photograph taken with a mobile phone. This approach makes it possible to identify different types of heart attacks without requiring digitized ECGs or advanced IT systems, making it a particularly valuable solution for regional hospitals, resource-limited emergency departments, or situations in which no cardiologist is available. The project plans the progressive integration of this tool into the clinical workflows of Hospital de Sant Pau and the execution of a prospective study to assess its real-world clinical impact, with a view to future certification as medical software.
According to Dr. Calandrelli, the project’s transformative potential is clear. “Our goal is for any professional, in any setting, to have immediate access to a second opinion powered by artificial intelligence. Every minute gained during a heart attack means saving heart muscle and saving lives.” The researcher also highlights RAPID-AIM’s innovative element, noting that it “works directly with ECG images, making it universally applicable even in settings without advanced digital systems.”
The second funded project, RACE+BIO, is led by Dr. Natalia Pérez de la Ossa, a vascular neurologist at Hospital de Sant Pau and an international reference in prehospital stroke care, author of the RACE scale, and principal investigator of the RACECAT study. The project builds upon the development and refinement of the RACE+ tool, a predictive algorithm powered by artificial intelligence that can accurately predict the main stroke subtypes, particularly large-vessel occlusion, and guide early decisions on the patient’s hospital destination. This can reduce critical delays and increase access to advanced therapies. The development includes, on the one hand, validating the RACE+ tool across diverse international healthcare ecosystems and, on the other, combining it with point-of-care blood biomarkers—rapid, portable tests that can be performed directly in the ambulance and deliver results within minutes without requiring a laboratory.
For Dr. Pérez de la Ossa, this technology represents a significant advancement in urgent stroke care. “RACE+BIO will allow us to know, from the ambulance and in under ten minutes, what type of stroke the patient has—information that is essential to deciding which hospital they should be taken to based on therapeutic needs. This information is critical because a two-hour delay can reduce the chances of recovery by 10%,” she explains. The researcher also stresses the project’s broader potential: “If we succeed in integrating artificial intelligence and biomarkers into prehospital triage, we will transform how emergency systems make decisions, particularly in rural areas or locations far from tertiary centers.”
Both projects share common goals, such as reducing inequity, optimizing healthcare system resources, and improving clinical outcomes in time-dependent conditions. The integration of digital tools powered by artificial intelligence will shorten critical delays, avoid unnecessary transfers, strengthen coordination between the Medical Emergency System (SEM) and hospitals, and support professionals acting during the first minutes of cardiovascular or neurological emergencies.
The awarding of these PERIS grants by the Department of Health reinforces IR Sant Pau’s leadership in digital health and reaffirms its commitment to translational research focused on solving real-world clinical challenges. RAPID-AIM and RACE+BIO represent a step forward in incorporating artificial intelligence into the Catalan healthcare system and pave the way for new diagnostic tools that could be integrated into emergency services in the near future, contributing to more equitable, efficient, and evidence-based care.
