A reusable vest that can map the heart’s electrical impulses in detail could help detect potentially fatal heart disease abnormalities much earlier than is currently possible, UCL researchers say. This is suggested by a new study by.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, found that an electrocardiogram imaging (ECGI) vest, developed by UCL’s Dr Gabby Captur, could be used to detect cancers associated with inherited heart muscle conditions during standard tests. It was found that electrical changes can be detected. Not recognizing the signs of illness.
This condition, called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, causes the heart’s muscular walls to become thick and stiff, affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood around the body. He affects an estimated 1 in 300 adults.
Although people with the genetic mutation that causes the disease often have no symptoms at all, the disease can cause heart failure and is often cited as the most common cause of sudden death in young people. .
Lead author Dr George Joy (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science and Barts Heart Center) said: “By using our new technology to spot subtle electrical abnormalities, we will be able to detect hypertrophic cardiomyopathy earlier. This means we may be able to act earlier. This is important because it provides new treatments that slow the progression of the disease, and allows us to quickly enter clinical trials that have the potential to stop the disease altogether.”
“Next steps in the study include repeating these results in a larger group of patients and looking over time to see how these early electrical changes affect the risk of later life-threatening heart rhythms. It includes doing.”
The ECGI vest has 256 sensors instead of the 12 used in a standard electrocardiogram (ECG) and can provide detailed electrical mapping of the heart in just five minutes.
Previously, this type of detailed mapping was rare and required inserting catheters into the heart cavities or using disposable devices that were expensive and time-consuming to set up. Because the ECGI vest is reusable, it has the potential to be used as a standard screening tool.
The new study looked at 174 patients who underwent genetic testing (supervised by UCL’s Dr Luis Lopez) from three London hospitals (Barts Heart Centre, St George’s Hospital and Royal Free Hospital) and 37 Targeted at healthy volunteers. Patients included not only people who already had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but also people who carried the genetic mutation that causes the disease but had no obvious signs of the disease.
The research team found that 1 in 4 patients with a genetic mutation had no signs of disease detected on either cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the gold standard of cardiac imaging, or a 12-lead ECG. discovered that the electrical anomaly was identified. , is the typical method of assessing the electrical activity of the heart.
Specifically, these patients were found by ECGI to have uneven electrical signal recovery patterns and slow conduction of electrical signals through the heart.
The researchers also applied a machine learning model to the 12 marker results from the ECGI vest to grade the severity of the disease and estimate the risk of sudden cardiac death.
They found that this grading was consistent with the risk estimated using a standard protocol based on information such as age and certain structural features of the heart.
Dr Captur (UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Science and Royal Free Hospital, London), senior author of the latest study, said: ‘The ECGI vest we have developed is a powerful tool for understanding the electrical functioning of the heart. and, more precisely, the risk that people will develop life-threatening heart rhythms.
“People with genetic mutations that cause hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are regularly monitored and given advice on exercise. In some cases, they may reduce or stop strenuous exercise. This regimen is especially useful for athletes. By better understanding the risks, we hope to prevent people from taking such advice unnecessarily. ”
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