Digital heart replicas find dangerous abnormalities: 3 study notes

Computer-generated heart replicas, or twins, can be used to identify hidden abnormalities in patients with a dangerous heart rhythm disorder, according to a study published Jan. 6 in Circulation

Scar-dependent ventricular tachycardia is caused by scar tissue on the heart muscle, usually due to a previous cardiovascular event or a genetic condition. Cardiologists typically treat the disorder with catheter ablation or the implantation of a defibrillator, according to a Jan. 6 news release from the American Heart Association. 

Researchers from Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University and the University of London assessed whether the digital heart replicas could predict areas where abnormal rhythms might occur.

Here are three notes from the study:

  1. Researchers used enhanced cardiac imaging to create digital heart twins for 18 patients with scar-dependent VT who were undergoing catheter ablation.

  2. Areas predicted as problematic by the digital twin had a 41% greater frequency of abnormalities compared to areas not flagged by the twin.

    The heart replicas also predicted about 80% of the sites where electrical signals were slowing.

  3. "Digital twins can render the heart in 3D and see exactly where the faulty circuit is," study author Michael Waight, MD, a researcher at the University of London, said in the release. "That means we can have an idea of the area to target before the patient even comes to the catheter lab facility."

    "[The technology] gives you a road map of areas to focus on, it's an incredibly powerful advancement," Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, MD, executive medical director of Overland Park, Kan.-based Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute, said in the release. "Whether we can apply this on a large scale is an open question, creating a digital twin is a very expensive process at this time."

Access the full study here

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