Abstract The May Measurement Month (MMM) 2023 global blood pressure (BP) screening campaign was conducted in Greece aiming to raise hypertension awareness and control in the general population. Volunteers aged ≥18 years were recruited through opportunistic screening in 11 cities. Each participant was assessed with triplicate seated BP measurements using validated automated upper-arm cuff devices and a standardized questionnaire on medical history. These data were submitted online through a custom-designed app of the global MMM campaign. Hypertension was defined as BP ≥140/90mmHg (average of second-third measurement) and/or use of antihypertensive drugs. A total of 5,437 individuals were analysed (mean age 53±17.1 years, 46.2% men, 27.8% current smokers, 10.9% with diabetes, 6.7% with cardiovascular disease) and 41.7% were hypertensive. The prevalence of hypertension was higher in men compared to women and in older compared to youngers individuals. Among hypertensives, 73.9% were unaware of their diagnosis, 69.9% were on antihypertensive drugs, and 47.6% were treated and controlled (BP <140/90mmHg). These data suggest that in Greece a high prevalence of hypertension persists, and often is undiagnosed, untreated, and uncontrolled. Global BP screening campaigns such as MMM are important and need to be complemented by public health initiatives at a national level for improving hypertension diagnosis and control.

BACKGROUND:Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive disorder associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. This nationwide, multicenter, point-prevalence study examined the prevalence and characteristics of CKD among adults hospitalized in internal medicine wards across 29 hospitals in Greece. METHODS:Patients were classified as having CKD if an estimated glomerular filtration rate (GFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and/or an increased albumin-to-creatinine ratio (ACR >30 mg/g) had been documented at least three months before the index hospitalization. Additional evidence of CKD was considered present when persistent abnormalities in urinalysis, renal biopsy findings, renal imaging, or other paraclinical examinations, persisting for at least three months, confirmed chronic kidney impairment. Demographic data, comorbidities, medication use, CKD stage, and the primary reason for admission were systematically recorded. RESULTS:A total of 1,155 patients were screened, of whom 203 met diagnostic criteria for CKD, yielding a point prevalence of 17.6% (95% CI: 15.4-19.9%). The cohort was predominantly elderly (mean age 81.2 years) and exhibited a high burden of multimorbidity, including arterial hypertension (78.8%), dyslipidemia (53.7%), diabetes mellitus (48.3%), and cardiovascular disease (33.0%). Most patients were classified in advanced CKD stages (G3b-G4), with a mean eGFR of 31.1 mL/min/1.73 m2. Infections were the leading cause of admission (62.6%), followed by cardiovascular (23.7%) and gastrointestinal diseases (17.7%). CONCLUSION:CKD is common among hospitalized adults in Greece and is concentrated in elderly patients with substantial comorbidity. These findings underscore the need for targeted management, early detection, and preventive strategies to improve outcomes in this high-risk inpatient population.

Kiosk devices for unsupervised self-measurement of blood pressure (BP) are being used in public spaces and healthcare settings in several countries. This statement by the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) Working Group on BP Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability provides a review of the published evidence on kiosk BP devices and consensus recommendations for their requirements and clinical use. A systematic literature search identified 54 relevant studies. Kiosk BP measurements appeared to be close to office BP [mean difference systolic 0.2 mmHg (95% confidence intervals -1.3 to 1.8); diastolic -0.4 mmHg (-3.5 to 2.7)], and higher than daytime ambulatory and home BP [mean difference 6.0 mmHg (1.6-10.4)/5.0 (2-8) and 8.1 mmHg (-2.6 to 18.9)/0.2 (-9.6 to 10.0), respectively]. Randomized or observational studies using kiosk BP measurements for hypertension screening or for assessing hypertension control were also included, as well as studies investigating users' and healthcare professionals' opinions, acceptability, and perspectives regarding kiosk BP measurements, and validation studies of kiosk BP devices. These studies had considerable heterogeneity in design, setting, methodology, measurement protocol, and sample size. Thus, at present, the clinical utility of kiosk BP measurements is uncertain. This ESH consensus statement acknowledges the potential of kiosk BP measurement as an emerging method for unsupervised self-measurement in the context of opportunistic screening for hypertension in apparently healthy people and the long-term monitoring of people with diagnosed hypertension. Requirements for the design, validation, function, and use of kiosk BP monitors are provided, together with the pending research questions on their optimal implementation in clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE The COVID-19 pandemic had an adverse impact on several cardiovascular risk factors. This study investigated the prevalence, awareness and treatment of hypertension in Greece before and after the pandemic. Data were collected in the context of the May Measurement Month (MMM) global survey initiated by the International Society of Hypertension. METHODS Adult volunteers (age >= 18 years) were recruited through opportunistic screening in public areas across cities in Greece in 2019 and 2022. Medical history and triplicate sitting blood pressure (BP) measurements were taken using validated automated upper-arm cuff devices. The data were uploaded to the international MMM cloud platform. Hypertension was defined as systolic BP >= 140 mm Hg and/or diastolic >= 90 mm Hg and/or self-reported use of drugs for hypertension. The same threshold was used to define uncontrolled BP in treated individuals. RESULTS Data from 12,080 adults were collected (5,727/6,353 in MMM 2019/2022; men 46/49%, p < 0.01; mean age 52.7 f 16.6/54.8 f 16.2, p <0.001; smokers, 24.7/30.5, p <0.001; diabetics 12/11.5%, p = NS; cardiovascular disease 5/ 5.8%, p = NS). The prevalence of hypertension was 41.6/42.6% (MMM 2019/2022, p = NS), with 21.3/27.5% of individuals with hypertension being unaware of their condition (p < 0.001), 5.6/2.4% aware untreated (p < 0.001), 24.8/ 22.1% treated uncontrolled (p < 0.05), and 48.3/47.8% treated controlled (p = NS). CONCLUSION In Greece, the COVID-19 pandemic did not appear to affect the prevalence and control of hypertension; however, the rate of undiagnosed hypertension was higher after the pandemic. National strategies need to be implemented for the early detection and optimal management of hypertension in the general population in Greece. (Hellenic Journal of Cardiology 2025;86:73-79) (c) 2024 Hellenic Society of Cardiology. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Objective: Treatment specificities of hypertension in older adults remains a matter of debate. We therefore investigated the clinical practices on the treatment of hypertension in adults >75 years in ESH Excellence Centres (EC). Design and method: A survey with 24 questions was developed by the Working Group Hypertension in Older Adults and addressed to ESH-EC. The survey was questioning therapeutic strategies in treating hypertension in 4 groups of frailty/functionality status: Group 1: Fit, Group 2: Frail and Independent, Group 3: Frail and Dependent Group 4: End of Life. Results: Responses were received from 50 ESH excellence centres. The representatives of these centers who answered (one person per center) were mostly internists (42%), cardiologists (32%) and nephrologists (18%). A total of 48% of respondents stated that they always considered frailty status, whilst a further 48% said that they frequently consider frailty, usually based on general appearance of the patient (68%). The preferable SBP range was considered for the 4 groups. A SBP range of 130-139 mm Hg for Groups 1 and 2 was considered as optimal by 56% of respondents whereas for Group 3, 48% considered a SBP range of 140-149 mmHg and for Group 4, 56% considered SBP 150 mmHg or more as optimal. For Group 1, 46% and 48% of respondents respectively proposed combination therapy in all hypertensives and in grade 2-3 hypertensives. These percentages were respectively 8% and 66% for Group 2, 4%and 34% for Group 3, 2% and 12% for Group 4. When considering a reduction in antihypertensive treatment, 57% did not specify any tool, and 34% used START/STOPP criteria. For Group 1, 42% proposed treatment reduction when SBP was between 100-120 mmHg whereas 40% of the respondents reduced treatment only if SBP <100mmHg. In the 3 other groups about 74-80% proposed to reduce treatment when SBP<120 mmHg. Conclusions: As frailty increases, higher SBP targets are considered optimal; Nevertheless the use of validated tools to improve frailty stratification, is still not standardized.

Aim: The Stroke Units Necessity for Patients (SUN4P) project aims to provide essential data on stroke healthcare in Greece. Herein, we present results on established quality indicators and outcomes after first-ever stroke occurrences. Methods: This prospective multicenter study included consecutive patients admitted to nine hospitals across Greece in 2019–2021. Descriptive statistics were used to present patients’ characteristics, key performance measures and stroke outcomes. Results: Among 892 patients, 755 had ischemic stroke (IS) (mean age 75.6 ± 13.6, 48.7% males) and 137 had hemorrhagic stroke (HS) (mean age 75.8 ± 13.2, 57.7% males). Of those, 15.4% of IS and 8% of HS patients were treated in the acute stroke unit (ASU) and 20.7% and 33.8% were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) or high-dependency unit (HDU), respectively. A total of 35 (4.6%) out of 125 eligible patients received intravenous alteplase with a door-to needle time of 60 min (21–90). The time to first scan for IS patients was 60 min (31–105) with 53.2% undergoing a CT scan within 60 min post presentation. Furthermore, 94.4% were discharged on antiplatelets, 69.8% on lipid-lowering therapy and 61.6% on antihypertensives. Oral anticoagulants (OAC) were initiated in 73.2% of the 153 IS patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Among the 687 IS patients who survived, 85.4% were discharged home, 12% were transferred to rehabilitation centers, 1.2% to nursing homes and 1.3% to another hospital. Conclusions: The SUN4P Registry is the first study to provide data from a prospectively collected cohort of consecutive patients from nine representative national hospitals. It represents an important step in the evaluation and improvement of the quality of acute stroke care in Greece.

Chronic systemic inflammation contributes to increased CVD burden in Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS). Since long-term follow-up data on subclinical atherosclerosis acceleration are lacking, we examined its progression in contemporary AS patients during 10 years. Fifty-three (89

Background: Previous studies have shown that patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke (AIS) treated with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA) have better clinical and in several cases economic outcomes than those who are not. However, the cost-effectiveness of rtPA in the Greek setting is totally unknown. This study aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of rtPA for the management of AIS in Greece based on real world data (RWD). Methods: A cost-effectiveness model was developed in Microsoft® Excel to examine the clinical and economic impact of rtPA from a Greek third-party payer perspective based on RWD collected during the “Improving Stroke Care in Greece in Terms of Management, Costs and Health Outcomes” project, with the participation of nine Greek hospitals from different cities. The primary outcome of the analysis was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) expressed in euros per quality adjusted life year (QALY). The primary clinical outcome was the mRS value at 3 months. Robustness of the results was tested using both one-way and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. Results: Compared with conservative management, rtPA led to 0.009 incremental QALYs per patient in the first 3 months. The total cost per patient incurred by the rtPA group was 2,196.65€, compared to 2,499.45€ in the conservative treatment group, leading to 302.79€ savings per patient, indicating that rtPA is more effective and costs less than conservative management from a Greek third-party payer perspective. However, probabilistic sensitivity analyses (PSA) showed that there is a significant variability and the probability of rtPA to be cost effective or dominant in the Greek setting is between 58.9%-74.1% within the threshold of one to three times the national GDP per capita. Conclusion: Intravenous rtPA represents a dominant or cost-effective strategy for the management of AIS in Greece. The analysis may have underestimated the potential benefits of rtPA. Although this study provides additional evidence to decision-makers, more data are required to improve the robustness of the conclusion

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic appeared to have an adverse impact on the management of cardiovascular risk factors. This study investigated the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in the adult population in Greece before and after the COVID-19 pandemic (2019 and 2022) in the context of the May Measurement Month (MMM) global survey initiated by the International Society of Hypertension (ISH). Design and method: Adult volunteers were recruited through opportunistic screening in public areas in several cities of Greece in 2019 and 2022. Information on medical history and triplicate sitting blood pressure (BP) measurements were obtained using validated automated upper-arm cuff devices with appropriate cuff size. Data were uploaded to an international online platform. Hypertension was defined as systolic BP >=140 mmHg and/or diastolic >=90 mmHg, and/or self-reported use of drugs for hypertension. The same threshold was used for the definition of uncontrolled hypertension in treated individuals. Results: The MMM survey collected data from 5,727 adults in 2019 and 6,353 in 2022. The characteristics of the participants in 2019/2022 were: men 46/49%, p<0.01; mean age 52.7±16.6/54.8±16.2, p<0.001; smokers, 24.7/30.5, p<0.001; diabetic 12/11.5%, p=NS; history of cardiovascular disease 5/5.8%, p=NS). The prevalence of hypertension was 41.6/42.6% (2019/2022, p=NS). Among patients with hypertension, 21.3/27.5% (2019/2022, p<0.001) were unaware of their condition, 5.6/2.4% were aware but untreated (p<0.001), 24.8/22.1% were treated but uncontrolled (p<0.05), and 48.3/47.8% were treated controlled (p=NS). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic did not significantly affect the prevalence and the control of hypertension in the general population in Greece. However, the rate of undiagnosed hypertension was increased after the pandemic.

Background: Anti-leucine-rich glioma inactivated 1 limbic encephalitis (anti-LGI1 LE) is one of the most frequent autoimmune encephalitis, commonly coexisting with other autoimmune diseases. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and monoclonal gammopathy of unknown significance (MGUS) are commonly associated with autoimmune phenomena. However, neither RA nor MGUS have been described in the literature to date as coexisting with anti-LGI1 LE. Case description: We present the case of anti-LGI1 LE in a male patient with rheumatoid arthritis, who was also found to have an MGUS. The patient was initially treated with corticosteroids and IV immunoglobulin. After a mild relapse, his treatment was complemented with rituximab, resulting in complete regression of the disease symptoms. Conclusions: Our report provides evidence for the coexistence of anti-LGI1 LE with RA and/or MGUS, thus extending the differential diagnosis of patients suffering with these disease entities that present with neuropsychiatric symptoms suggestive of encephalitis. Moreover, this case raises challenges on the management of the coexistence of these diseases, given the lack of therapeutic guidelines and their potential interaction on a pathophysiological and a clinical level.

Purpose: To investigate the alterations of retinal vessel diameters in patients with macular edema secondary to retinal vein occlusion (RVO), before and after treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab. Methods: Digital retinal images were obtained from 16 patients and retinal vessel diameters were measured before and three months after treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab with validated software to determine central retinal arteriolar and venular equivalents, as well as arteriolar to venular ratio. Results: In 17 eyes of 16 patients with macular edema secondary to RVO (10 with branch RVO and 6 with central RVO) aged 67 ± 10.2 years, we found that diameters of both retinal arterioles and venules were significantly decreased after intravitreal ranibizumab treatment. Specifically, the central retinal arteriolar equivalent was 215.2 ± 11.2 μm at baseline and 201.2 ± 11.1 μm at month 3 after treatment (p < 0.001), while the central retinal venular equivalent was 233.8 ± 29.6 μm before treatment versus 207.6 ± 21.7 μm at month 3 after treatment (p < 0.001). Conclusions: A significant vasoconstriction in both retinal arterioles and venules in patients with RVO was found at month 3 after intravitreal ranibizumab treatment compared to baseline. This could be of clinical importance, since the degree of vasoconstriction might be an early marker of treatment efficacy, compatible with the idea that hypoxia is the major trigger of VEGF in RVO. Further studies should be conducted to confirm our findings.

Blood pressure is not a static parameter, but rather undergoes continuous fluctuations over time, as a result of the interaction between environmental and behavioural factors on one side and intrinsic cardiovascular regulatory mechanisms on the other side. Increased blood pressure variability (BPV) may indicate an impaired cardiovascular regulation and may represent a cardiovascular risk factor itself, having been associated with increased all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, stroke, coronary artery disease, heart failure, end-stage renal disease, and dementia incidence. Nonetheless, BPV was considered only a research issue in previous hypertension management guidelines, because the available evidence on its clinical relevance presents several gaps and is based on heterogeneous studies with limited standardization of methods for BPV assessment. The aim of this position paper, with contributions from members of the European Society of Hypertension Working Group on Blood Pressure Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability and from a number of international experts, is to summarize the available evidence in the field of BPV assessment methodology and clinical applications and to provide practical indications on how to measure and interpret BPV in research and clinical settings based on currently available data. Pending issues and clinical and methodological recommendations supported by available evidence are also reported. The information provided by this paper should contribute to a better standardization of future studies on BPV, but should also provide clinicians with some indications on how BPV can be managed based on currently available data.

The aim of this study was to measure the one-year total cost of strokes and to investigate the value of stroke care, defined as cost per QALY. The study population included 892 patients with first-ever acute strokes, hemorrhagic strokes, and ischemic strokes, (ICD-10 codes: I61, I63, and I64) admitted within 48 h of symptoms onset to nine public hospitals located in six cities. We conducted a bottom-up cost analysis from the societal point of view. All cost components including direct medical costs, productivity losses due to morbidity and mortality, and informal care costs were considered. We used an annual time horizon, including all costs for 2021, irrespective of the time of disease onset. The average cost (direct and indirect) was extrapolated in order to estimate the national annual burden associated with stroke. We estimated the total cost of stroke in Greece at EUR 343.1 mil. a year in 2021, (EUR 10,722/patient or EUR 23,308 per QALY). Out of EUR 343.1 mil., 53.3% (EUR 182.9 mil.) consisted of direct healthcare costs, representing 1.1% of current health expenditure in 2021. Overall, productivity losses were calculated at EUR 160.2 mil. The mean productivity losses were estimated to be 116 work days with 55.1 days lost due to premature retirement and absenteeism from work, 18.5 days lost due to mortality, and 42.4 days lost due to informal caregiving by family members. This study highlights the burden of stroke and underlines the need for stakeholders and policymakers to re-organize stroke care and promote interventions that have been proven cost-effective.

OBJECTIVE:To develop scientific consensus recommendations for the optimal design and functions of different types of blood pressure (BP) measuring devices used in clinical practice for the detection, management, and long-term follow-up of hypertension.METHODS:A scientific consensus meeting was performed by the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) Working Group on BP Monitoring and Cardiovascular Variability and STRIDE BP (Science and Technology for Regional Innovation and Development in Europe) during the 2022 Scientific Meeting of the ESH in Athens, Greece. Manufacturers were also invited to provide their feedback on BP device design and development. Thirty-one international experts in clinical hypertension and BP monitoring contributed to the development of consensus recommendations on the optimal design of BP devices.STATEMENT:International consensus was reached on the requirements for the design and features of five types of BP monitors, including office (or clinic) BP monitors, ambulatory BP monitors, home BP monitors, home BP telemonitors, and kiosk BP monitors for public spaces. For each device type "essential" requirements (must have), and "optional" ones (may have) are presented, as well as additional comments on the optimal device design and features.CONCLUSIONS:These consensus recommendations aim at providing manufacturers of BP devices with the requirements that are considered mandatory, or optional, by clinical experts involved in the detection and management of hypertension. They are also directed to administrative healthcare personnel involved in the provision and purchase of BP devices so that they can recommend the most appropriate ones.

To assess stroke patient-reported experiences and hospital staff experiences, during hospital stay. METHODS:Stroke patient-reported experiences (n=387) were recorded using the translated and culturally adapted NHS-Stroke Questionnaire into Greek and staff experiences (n=236) were investigated using the Compassion Satisfaction and Burnout subscales of the ProQOL questionnaire. RESULTS:Staff's mean compassion satisfaction score was 39.2 (SD=6.3) and mean burnout score was 24.3 (SD=5.6). Only 38.5% of the staff stated that there is smooth cooperation with healthcare professionals of other specialties/disciplines. Personnel working in an NHS Hospital was more satisfied and less burned-out when compared to personnel working at a University Hospital (p=0.02 and p<0.001, respectively). Mean total patient-reported experiences score was 81.9 (SD=9.5). Bivariate analysis revealed statistically significant differences for total patient-reported experiences among the eight study hospitals (p>0.001). CONCLUSIONS:Health policy planners and decision-makers must take into consideration the results of such self-reported measures to establish innovative techniques to accomplish goals such as staff-specialization, continuous training and applying formal frameworks for efficient cooperation amongst different disciplines.

The study proposes a novel machine learning (ML) paradigm for cardiovascular disease (CVD) detection in individuals at medium to high cardiovascular risk using data from a Greek cohort of 542 individuals with rheumatoid arthritis, or diabetes mellitus, and/or arterial hypertension, using conventional or office-based, laboratory-based blood biomarkers and carotid/femoral ultrasound image-based phenotypes. Two kinds of data (CVD risk factors and presence of CVD—defined as stroke, or myocardial infarction, or coronary artery syndrome, or peripheral artery disease, or coronary heart disease) as ground truth, were collected at two-time points: (i) at visit 1 and (ii) at visit 2 after 3 years. The CVD risk factors were divided into three clusters (conventional or office-based, laboratory-based blood biomarkers, carotid ultrasound image-based phenotypes) to study their effect on the ML classifiers. Three kinds of ML classifiers (Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, and Linear Discriminant Analysis) were applied in a two-fold cross-validation framework using the data augmented by synthetic minority over-sampling technique (SMOTE) strategy. The performance of the ML classifiers was recorded. In this cohort with overall 46 CVD risk factors (covariates) implemented in an online cardiovascular framework, that requires calculation time less than 1 s per patient, a mean accuracy and area-under-the-curve (AUC) of 98.40% and 0.98 ( p < 0.0001) for CVD presence detection at visit 1, and 98.39% and 0.98 ( p < 0.0001) at visit 2, respectively. The performance of the cardiovascular framework was significantly better than the classical CVD risk score. The ML paradigm proved to be powerful for CVD prediction in individuals at medium to high cardiovascular risk.

Background: The previous COVID-19 lung diagnosis system lacks both scientific validation and the role of explainable artificial intelligence (AI) for understanding lesion localization. This study presents a cloud-based explainable AI, the “COVLIAS 2.0-cXAI” system using four kinds of class activation maps (CAM) models. Methodology: Our cohort consisted of ~6000 CT slices from two sources (Croatia, 80 COVID-19 patients and Italy, 15 control patients). COVLIAS 2.0-cXAI design consisted of three stages: (i) automated lung segmentation using hybrid deep learning ResNet-UNet model by automatic adjustment of Hounsfield units, hyperparameter optimization, and parallel and distributed training, (ii) classification using three kinds of DenseNet (DN) models (DN-121, DN-169, DN-201), and (iii) validation using four kinds of CAM visualization techniques: gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM), Grad-CAM++, score-weighted CAM (Score-CAM), and FasterScore-CAM. The COVLIAS 2.0-cXAI was validated by three trained senior radiologists for its stability and reliability. The Friedman test was also performed on the scores of the three radiologists. Results: The ResNet-UNet segmentation model resulted in dice similarity of 0.96, Jaccard index of 0.93, a correlation coefficient of 0.99, with a figure-of-merit of 95.99%, while the classifier accuracies for the three DN nets (DN-121, DN-169, and DN-201) were 98%, 98%, and 99% with a loss of ~0.003, ~0.0025, and ~0.002 using 50 epochs, respectively. The mean AUC for all three DN models was 0.99 (p < 0.0001). The COVLIAS 2.0-cXAI showed 80% scans for mean alignment index (MAI) between heatmaps and gold standard, a score of four out of five, establishing the system for clinical settings. Conclusions: The COVLIAS 2.0-cXAI successfully showed a cloud-based explainable AI system for lesion localization in lung CT scans.

Motivation: The price of medical treatment continues to rise due to (i) an increasing population; (ii) an aging human growth; (iii) disease prevalence; (iv) a rise in the frequency of patients that utilize health care services; and (v) increase in the price. Objective: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already well-known for its superiority in various healthcare applications, including the segmentation of lesions in images, speech recognition, smartphone personal assistants, navigation, ride-sharing apps, and many more. Our study is based on two hypotheses: (i) AI offers more economic solutions compared to conventional methods; (ii) AI treatment offers stronger economics compared to AI diagnosis. This novel study aims to evaluate AI technology in the context of healthcare costs, namely in the areas of diagnosis and treatment, and then compare it to the traditional or non-AI-based approaches. Methodology: PRISMA was used to select the best 200 studies for AI in healthcare with a primary focus on cost reduction, especially towards diagnosis and treatment. We defined the diagnosis and treatment architectures, investigated their characteristics, and categorized the roles that AI plays in the diagnostic and therapeutic paradigms. We experimented with various combinations of different assumptions by integrating AI and then comparing it against conventional costs. Lastly, we dwell on three powerful future concepts of AI, namely, pruning, bias, explainability, and regulatory approvals of AI systems. Conclusions: The model shows tremendous cost savings using AI tools in diagnosis and treatment. The economics of AI can be improved by incorporating pruning, reduction in AI bias, explainability, and regulatory approvals.