Heartflow Expands GAMEFILM Registry to NBA and NHL Alumni, Precisely Measuring Heart Disease Risk in Former Professional Athletes
NBA legend Muggsy Bogues joins effort to detect and manage coronary artery disease in retired players using AI-powered Heartflow Analysis
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Feb. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- (Heartflow) (Nasdaq: HTFL), the leader in AI technology for coronary artery disease (CAD), today announced a significant expansion of its groundbreaking . Building on a successful initial phase enrolling retired National Football League (NFL) athletes, the study will now extend to include former players from the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Hockey League (NHL), broadening Heartflow’s initiative to protect the heart health of professional athletes across major sports. Retired NBA star Muggsy Bogues was one of the first former professional basketball players to join the GAMEFILM Registry and receive a CAD assessment with Heartflow’s 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."
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States and worldwide. It is known as the “silent killer” because it can progress for years without obvious signs or symptoms. For professional athletes who place immense, continuous demands on their cardiovascular systems, underlying heart issues can be easily masked. provides a thorough understanding of coronary plaque burden, which is essential for physicians to identify high-risk patients early and enable timely, preventative interventions. Four out of five heart attacks and strokes are preventable with lifestyle and nutrition changes if patients at high risk are identified early.1
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 United States, aims to enroll 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 first-of-its-kind non-invasive technology can identify different types of plaque in the coronary arteries — including those most likely to cause a cardiac event — and measure the effect on blood flow to the heart.2
“Expanding our GAMEFILM Registry to include NBA and NHL athletes marks a pivotal moment for Heartflow, demonstrating our mission to revolutionize how heart disease is diagnosed, measured and managed,” said John Farquhar, President and CEO 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. This data is expected to contribute significantly to the development of tailored screening protocols, preventative strategies, and personalized 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, M.D., 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.”
Heartflow is actively collaborating with organizations supporting former professional athletes to facilitate enrollment and to integrate the GAMEFILM Registry’s insights into existing health and wellness programs. This initiative underscores Heartflow's dedication to managing heart disease through partnering with physicians to generate robust, high-quality clinical evidence. To learn more and enroll in the GAMEFILM Registry, visit .
About Heartflow’s Technology and Research
Heartflow’s technology is redefining precision cardiovascular care through clinically-proven AI and the world’s largest coronary imaging dataset. Heartflow has been adopted by more than 1,400 institutions globally and continues to strengthen its commercial presence to make this cutting-edge solution more widely available to an increasingly diverse patient population. Backed by ACC/AHA guidelines and supported by more than 600 peer-reviewed publications, Heartflow has redefined how clinicians manage care for over 500,000 patients worldwide.3 Key benefits include:
- Proprietary data pipeline: Built from more than 160 million annotated CTA images, Heartflow’s data foundation powers advanced AI models that deliver highly accurate, reproducible insights across diverse patient populations.
- Extensive clinical and real-world validation: Heartflow’s AI-driven solutions have been validated through clinical evidence in over 200 studies assessing over 365,000 patients. Proven in real-world practice with reproducibility and accuracy, Heartflow’s coronary CTA image acceptance rates exceed 97%.
- Seamless clinical integration via upgraded workflow: Heartflow delivers final quality-reviewed analyses instantly upon order, enabling clinicians to move from diagnosis to decision without delay.
- Quality system, global security and patient-data integrity compliance: Heartflow meets or exceeds leading international standards, including HITRUST, SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 13485, and ISO 27001.
About Heartflow, Inc.
Heartflow is transforming coronary artery disease from the world’s leading cause of death into a condition that can be detected early, diagnosed accurately, and managed for life. The platform uses AI to turn coronary CTA images into personalized 3D models of the heart, providing clinically meaningful, actionable insights into plaque location, volume, and composition and its effect on blood flow — all without invasive procedures. Discover how we’re shaping the future of cardiovascular care at .
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1 World Heart Federation. Prevention. -heart-federation.org/what-we-do/prevention/ Accessed Feb. 10, 2026.
2 Williams, Michelle C., et al. “Low-Attenuation SCOT-HEART Trial.” pp. 1452–1462, /10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.119.044720.
3 Gulati, et al. 2021 AHA/ACC/ASE/CHEST/SAEM/SCCT/SCMR Guideline for the Evaluation & Diagnosis of Chest Pain. J Am Coll Cardiol.
