Covera Health, a leader in advancing quality-driven radiology, today announced the launch of Protect Her, an innovative AI-powered solution designed to enhance early detection of critical health conditions predominantly impacting women ages 40 and up. Protect Her leverages the latest advances in radiology AI to identify early signs of breast cancer, cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis during routine scans that women are already receiving, such as mammograms, chest CTs, and chest x-rays. This platform can often detect disease before symptoms appear, empowering women to proactively seek timely, and potentially lifesaving care.
Addressing a Critical Gap in Women’s Healthcare
Each year, millions of women undergo routine imaging scans, yet many serious conditions go undiagnosed. Cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, and osteoporosis are among the leading causes of death and disability in women, yet early signs of these conditions are often overlooked in routine imaging.
For example:
- 1 in 5 breast cancers are missed on screening mammograms
- Up to 1 in 6 women show early signs of heart disease—such as breast arterial calcifications on routine mammograms, yet these indicators are rarely reported or acted upon
- Approximately 1 in 2 women with osteoporosis will experience an osteoporotic fracture in their lifetime, and of those that suffer osteoporotic hip fractures, 20% will not survive beyond the first year
Protect Her works at the point of care to ensure women get the most out of their radiology exams with no additional effort.
“Early detection is the single most powerful tool we have to improve health outcomes, particularly for women, who are frequently underdiagnosed in these areas,” said Ron Vianu, CEO of Covera Health. “Protect Her empowers providers with AI-powered insights that can detect serious and life-threatening conditions early, allowing women to get the right care before it’s too late. This is a game-changer for women’s health.”
AI-Powered Detection During Routine Imaging
Protect Her works by analyzing imaging studies that women are already undergoing—such as mammograms and chest x-rays to flag undetected conditions that traditional radiology may overlook:
- Breast Cancer: AI can detect subtle patterns that may indicate early malignancies, increasing detection rates and reducing missed cancers.
- Cardiovascular Disease: Protect Her flags breast arterial calcifications (BAC), a marker of heart disease visible on mammograms but rarely reported and Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) on chest CT scans, a key predictor of heart disease.
- Osteoporosis: AI scans routine images for signs of vertebral spine fractures, which are often missed in early stages.
Benefits for Employers & Health Plans
For employers, benefits managers and payors, Protect Her represents a proactive approach to managing healthcare costs and improving employee well-being. This platform allows organizations to prioritize the health and well-being of their employee population, while also delivering lower long-term healthcare costs and higher workplace satisfaction and productivity. By catching diseases early, organizations can:
- Improve diagnostic accuracy by enabling Covera’s AI driven platform to support the detection and verification of incidental clinical findings on imaging reports.
- Reduce high-cost claims associated with late-stage cancer, heart attacks, and osteoporotic fractures.
- Improve workforce productivity, as early intervention leads to better treatment outcomes and less missed work.
- Support a healthier employee population, leading to lower long-term healthcare costs and higher workplace satisfaction.
“AI has the ability to transform how we practice medicine, especially when it comes to our ability to detect early signs of disease,” said Dr. Phoebe E. Freer, a leading expert in the field. Dr. Freer is a Professor of Radiology and serves as a Breast Cancer Screening Leader with the American College of Radiology. She is also a Fellow of the Society of Breast Imaging. “By using advanced technology to analyze a patient’s image beyond the primary concern, we can detect high-impact conditions more readily, giving patients and their physicians critical insights that may help them act before a crisis occurs.”
