Background

Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term for morbidities that eventually lead to heart failure, the leading cause of death worldwide. Early detection and individualized treatment addressing the underlying cause of CVD will improve outcomes and prevent complications. However, the sensitivity of current diagnostic and prognostic measures may limit patient stratification and options for personalized therapy.

Previous studies have shown that cellular morphological features in cancer cells have prognostic and diagnostic value. Furthermore, research has shown that cardiomyocytes display a high degree of morphological plasticity and respond to cardiovascular challenges by changing size and shape, thereby validating morphology as an important indicator of disease state. However, cardiomyocyte cellular heterogeneity limits the use of phenotypic image analysis to a few stand-alone