Circle Cardiovascular Imaging vs Elucid (2026)
Both quantify coronary plaque, including low density plaque, but the delivery differs. Circle's cvi42 runs on premises with clinicians editing the machine learning contours, and it reads cardiac MR and structural heart studies as well. Elucid's PlaqueIQ is a cloud service: Elucid analysts segment every study, and physicians review the result and can request rework. It classifies plaque against histology and covers carotid CT. Both cleared their plaque software under the same image processing regulation, Circle in October 2025 and Elucid in September 2024. Elucid's fractional flow reserve and stenosis outputs are pending FDA review. If you want the analysis on your own hardware and in your readers' hands, start with Circle. If you want histology based classification delivered as a service, start with Elucid.
- On premises analysis: cvi42 runs on a hospital workstation or customer managed server, so patient data stays inside the institution.
- Your readers edit the result: clinicians review and edit the machine learning contours directly.
- You read cardiac MR too: cvi42 covers cardiac MR, structural heart and electrophysiology planning alongside CT.
- Plaque composition is the question: PlaqueIQ classifies plaque components against histology, including lipid rich necrotic core.
- You read carotid CT: the carotid application launched in October 2025 under the same analysis.
- You want the analysis done for you: Elucid analysts segment each study, and physicians review the result and can request rework.
This comparison is published by AI Health Index, an independent research platform that compares healthcare AI vendors objectively. Circle Cardiovascular Imaging and Elucid are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI Health Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Fact | Circle Cardiovascular Imaging | Elucid |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Radiology & Imaging AI | Radiology & Imaging AI |
| Founded | 2007 | Not recorded |
| Headquarters | Calgary, Alberta, Canada | Boston, Massachusetts, United States |
| Website | circlecvi.com | elucid.com |
Side by Side
Select any grade to read the note behind it.
Product updates
The latest logged changes from each vendor, newest first, each linked to its source.
Circle Cardiovascular Imaging
-
Product / capability
Circle Cardiovascular Imaging released cvi42 v6.5, introducing automated phase offset correction, anti-aliasing, and pre-segmentation for 4D Flow.
Source
Each vendor in one paragraph
Written to be quoted whole. Each paragraph opens the AI Health Index profile of the vendor: what the product is, who buys it and what it does.
Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, based in Calgary and working in cardiovascular imaging since 2007, makes cvi42, vendor-neutral software for reading and reporting cardiac MR, cardiac and vascular CT, structural heart and electrophysiology planning, with StrokeSENS for acute stroke.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Elucid analyzes coronary and carotid CT angiography to quantify and classify atherosclerotic plaque, including lipid rich necrotic core, the plaque type most linked to heart attack and stroke. Plaque-IQ, cleared by the FDA in September 2024 (K241524), classifies plaque components against ground-truth histology rather than fixed Hounsfield unit ranges, an approach the company calls CT Virtual Histology, and reports patient, vessel and lesion level composition, stenosis and CAD-RADS scoring; the carotid application launched in October 2025.
Source: AI Health Index, September 2026
Questions buyers ask
How do Circle Cardiovascular Imaging and Elucid work with the EHR?
Circle lists partner integrations on its site.
With Elucid, the integration work a site takes on is not described either. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 27, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How are Circle Cardiovascular Imaging and Elucid priced and sold?
Circle publishes a coding and reimbursement guide and a reimbursement calculator, and describes Medicare payment for AI plaque analysis of CCTA (US$950 under Category III code 0625T, moving to a permanent Category I code from January 2026) and higher base payments for the CCTA exam.
Elucid publishes the CPT codes that apply (CCTA 75574; Plaque-IQ under Category III codes 0623T to 0626T and, from January 2026, Category I 75577) and a state by state insurer coverage map, and says 70 percent of insured US lives have positive coverage policies; four of seven Medicare contractors, EviCore and UnitedHealthcare cover AI plaque analysis. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 27, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Which settings and specialties do Circle Cardiovascular Imaging and Elucid cover?
With Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, the plaque module's clearance limits it to adults' cardiac CT and its validation used US data only, and the company says not all modules are available in every region. Validation by setting for the other modules is not set out on the product pages.
In Elucid's case, the plaque classification is validated against histology, and the company markets it for a broad insured US population. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 27, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
What evidence is published for Circle Cardiovascular Imaging and Elucid?
For Circle Cardiovascular Imaging, the cvi42 Coronary Plaque 510(k) summary (K251027) reports segmentation and plaque volume agreement with three expert annotators on held-out US data. The product page's headline, quantified risk and personalized care, cites category studies such as SCOT-HEART, CONFIRM, PARADIGM and SCCT consensus rather than any study of cvi42 Plaque.
Elucid publishes correlations between Plaque-IQ and pathologist-read histology from the data behind its clearance (K241524): total plaque r = 0.99, calcified 0.95, non-calcified 0.86, and lipid rich necrotic core 0.88, without the number of specimens or patients. From the AI Health Index, drawn from each vendor's own published materials and the regulatory record, verified September 27, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Clinical Decision Support page.
Neither vendor states the number of cases behind its published agreement or correlation figures. Neither publishes a price.