Heartflow has announced an expansion of its GAMEFILM registry, which will now include retired from the USA’s National Basketball League (NBA) National Hockey League (NHL) competitions. The registry, announced in early 2025, was initially set up to include retired National Football League (NFL) athletes.
Retired NBA star Muggsy Bogues was one of the first former professional basketball players to join the GAMEFILM Registry and receive a coronary artery disease (CAD) assessment with Heartflow’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven technology.
“My 14-year career as a professional athlete taught me the importance of staying on top of your health, especially heart health. I joined Heartflow’s GAMEFILM registry as soon as I heard about it because I’ve lost too many friends to cardiovascular disease,” said former NBA point guard Muggsy Bogues. “Many of us push our bodies to the limits, and sometimes the signs of underlying issues can be overlooked. Heartflow Analysis offers an easy way to get a precise picture of what’s going on inside, without invasive procedures. I’m excited to see this technology benefit more athletes, giving them and their doctors a powerful tool for proactive heart care.”
Heartflow Plaque Analysis provides an insight into coronary plaque burden, which is used to identify high-risk patients early and enable preventative interventions.
The GAMEFILM registry has already enrolled over 140 retired athletes from the NFL, NBA, and NHL. The study, currently active at 15 sites across the USA, aims to enrol up to 300 former players to better understand the prevalence, risk factors, severity, and treatment protocols for cardiovascular disease in this population.
To do so, the registry addresses how advanced coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) imaging and AI-powered insights from Heartflow’s non-invasive technology can identify different types of plaque in the coronary arteries and measure the effect on blood flow to the heart.
“Expanding our GAMEFILM registry to include NBA and NHL athletes marks a pivotal moment for Heartflow, demonstrating our mission to revolutionise how heart disease is diagnosed, measured and managed,” said John Farquhar, president and chief executive officer of Heartflow, and an NFL alumnus. “Heartflow’s precision diagnostic capability will not only advance the health and safety of these athletes, but also generate invaluable insights that will benefit cardiovascular care more broadly.”
The expansion of the GAMEFILM registry will deepen understanding of how high-performance sports impact heart health over time, HeartFlow says in a press release. This data are expected to contribute to the development of tailored screening protocols, preventative strategies, and personalised treatment plans.
“Cardiovascular disease in former professional athletes is a paramount concern, but there’s much we still don’t understand about the disease in this population,” said Jeffrey L Boone (Boone Heart Institute, Greenwood Village, USA) GAMEFILM Registry Primary Investigator and Founder and Medical Director of the Boone Heart Institute. “We’ve seen the invaluable insights gained from our work with NFL alumni, identifying risks and guiding interventions. Bringing this same proactive, precision cardiovascular care to basketball and hockey players, who are also at unique risk due to the physical intensity of their sports, is a vital step in ensuring their long-term health.”
