Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac rhythm disorder.
Today, the major challenge in its clinical management is to intervene before the onset of the arrhythmia, that is to say from the very first signs of atrial cardiomyopathy, responsible for the onset of atrial fibrillation and embolic stroke.
Faced with this major challenge, IHU ICAN is coordinating the MAESTRIA project, a major consortium of 17 European partners, which therefore aims to develop the 1st open-access digital platform dedicated to healthcare professionals, for rapid detection of atrial cardiomyopathy.
Discover the progress of the MAESTRIA demonstrator!
The context: atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac rhythm disorder
- Atrial fibrillation, a cardiac rhythm disorder, is the most common cardiac arrhythmia (rhythm disorder) and the leading cardiac cause of stroke.
- It is often associated with cardiometabolic diseases such as obesity or diabetes, and with related cardiovascular diseases: heart failure, hypertension…
A disease on the sharp rise, mainly linked to the aging of the population
- It affects 1% of the general population and up to 8% of people over 80.
- It is estimated that in France around 750,000 people suffer from atrial fibrillation.
- This burden leads to a high cost of care, estimated at around 2.5 billion euros per year.
Today, the challenge of clinical management of atrial fibrillation is to intervene before the onset of the arrhythmia, that is to say from the very first signs of atrial cardiomyopathy.
The response: the MAESTRIA project
Faced with this major public health challenge, IHU ICAN has launched the MAESTRIA project: a highly innovative project that aims to develop the 1st open-access digital platform dedicated to healthcare professionals, for rapid detection of atrial cardiomyopathy.
By combining imaging data with patients’ physiological data (omics, clinical, etc.), MAESTRIA is now able to identify new therapeutic targets, in order to achieve improved diagnostic accuracy and increases the effectiveness and efficiency of treatments by enabling better prevention of complications from atrial cardiomyopathy, such as atrial fibrillation and stroke.
The MAESTRIA project (Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Early Detection of Stroke and Atrial Fibrillation)
- Coordinated by Prof. Stéphane Hatem, Director of IHU ICAN
- A consortium of 17 partners from Europe, the United States and Canada, responding to an H2020 call for projects on digital diagnostics
- Duration: 5 years (2021-2026)
The IHU ICAN team dedicated to the project
- Our Scientific Operations Department for setting up and monitoring the project
- Our legal team for regulatory and ethical aspects
- The clinical platform and the Omics platform of IHU-ICAN, to define the disease’s electrophysiological signature
- The Biological Resource Center (CRB) for the proper preservation of the study’s biological data
- The ICAN Imaging platform for interpreting imaging and ECG data and identifying the algorithms best suited for integration into the MAESTRIA demonstrator
The H2020 program
Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) is a European Union research and innovation funding program. This program aims to support resolutely interdisciplinary research projects capable of addressing major economic and social challenges. It was succeeded by Horizon Europe (2021-2027).
Discover the MAESTRIA demonstrator
As part of this project, a digital platform called the “MAESTRIA demonstrator” has been developed to enable the integration of multimodal cardiovascular data and to offer clinical decision support based on artificial intelligence.
The MAESTRIA demonstrator is a secure digital platform designed to integrate several sources of cardiovascular data, including:
- electrocardiography (ECG)
- echocardiography
- cardiac CT scan
- clinical data collected via electronic case report forms (eCRF)
- biological and laboratory variables
Data security
Data collected by specialized central laboratories is harmonized and then transferred to the platform via standardized pipelines. The system relies on a secure infrastructure using the XNAT framework, ensuring GDPR compliance, traceability, and controlled user access.
The demonstrator is also part of the European Health Data Space and Gaia-X, serving as a use case for the secure sharing of biomedical data and the multimodal integration of clinical data.
Diagnostic support
The platform integrates several predictive models designed to facilitate clinical decision-making for atrial fibrillation, including:
- Prediction of thrombus formation and atrial deposits
- Prediction of sinus rhythm restoration
- Prediction of atrial fibrillation progression
- Prediction of atrial cardiomyopathy
All models are integrated into a single interface where clinicians can perform predictions interactively.
A unique platform
- Integration of multimodal cardiovascular data, including data from imaging, electrophysiology, and biological markers
- AI-based predictive models, specifically developed for atrial fibrillation and atrial cardiomyopathy
- Explainable AI results enabling transparent and interpretable predictions
- A clinician-oriented user interface, designed to integrate into clinical workflows
- A secure infrastructure compliant with GDPR and aligned with the European Health Data Space (Gaia-X)
These features make the MAESTRIA demonstrator a next-generation digital tool for personalized cardiovascular medicine. Contact us to try it out: Prof. Stéphane HATEM (s.hatem@ihuican.org) or Maharajah PONNAIAH (m.ponnaiah@ihuican.org)
News: the latest scientific publications
The clinical pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation: outstanding questions from bedside to bench and back
Physiological Reviews, 2026
Effects of SGLT2 inhibition on incident heart failure in carriers of cardiomyopathy-associated genetic variants
Nature Medicine, 2026
Mutation-dependent responses to sleep and exercise in clonal haematopoiesis
Nature, 2026
News: project updates
European Research & Innovation Days
Organized by the European Commission in Brussels on September 16 and 17, 2025, the 6th edition of this flagship event brought together policymakers, researchers, and business leaders to define the European research and innovation agenda.
Our team was on site to present the MAESTRIA project, selected by the European Commission!
Consortium meeting
On May 8 and 9, 2025, IHU ICAN organized a MAESTRIA project consortium meeting, bringing together 40 representatives from all the international partners directly involved in the project. This event was an opportunity to share progress made across various areas of work (artificial intelligence, cohort recruitment, demonstrator development, etc.) and to discuss the strategy for the short and medium term.
Data workshop
On March 21, 2025, a data workshop was held as part of the MAESTRIA project, bringing together around forty people from this international consortium, in person and remotely, to discuss issues related to health data, its sharing within the consortium, and its joint use in the MAESTRIA Demonstrator.
This workshop was an opportunity to review the work accomplished over the past 4 years on the complex topic of health data, and to validate the strategy for the rest of the project.
First patients enrolled in the MAESTRIA-AFNET 10 cohort
In early 2024, the teams began enrolling the first patients at 2 Parisian recruitment centers (Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital and Saint-Antoine Hospital) to build the European MAESTRIA-AFNET 10 cohort.
Contact us to try the MAESTRIA demonstrator: Prof. Stéphane HATEM (s.hatem@ihuican.org) or Maharajah PONNAIAH (m.ponnaiah@ihuican.org)
