We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us
GLOBETECH PUBLISHING LLC

Download Mobile App




New 3D Tool Predicts Patients at Higher Risk from Lethal Arrhythmias

By MedImaging International staff writers
Posted on 25 May 2016
Print article
Image: The graphic shows how the VARP 3D computer model was used to classify patients at high risk and low risk for heart arrhythmia (Photo courtesy of Royce Faddis / JHU).
Image: The graphic shows how the VARP 3D computer model was used to classify patients at high risk and low risk for heart arrhythmia (Photo courtesy of Royce Faddis / JHU).
Researchers in an interdisciplinary team have developed a non-invasive 3D assessment tool to help clinicians find patients most at risk from lethal arrhythmias, and those who need a defibrillator implant.

The proof-of-concept study was published online in the May 10, 2016, issue of the journal Nature Communications. The researchers reported that the new digital technique provided a more accurate assessment of which patients were most at risk, and needed a defibrillator, than current blood pumping measurements.

The landmark study was carried out by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore, MD, USA). The researchers used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans and computer-modeling techniques to build a personalized geometrical replica of each patient's heart. The researchers then added representations of the electrical processes, and were able to discover which virtual heart developed an arrhythmia, and which did not. The technique, called Virtual-heart Arrhythmia Risk Predictor (VARP), enabled the researchers to take account of the specific geometry of the heart of each patient, the electrical impulses, and the impact of scar tissue left by a previous heart attack.

The VARP technique was able to predict arrhythmia occurrence in patients four-to-five times better than current ejection fraction techniques, and other non-invasive and invasive clinical risk predictors. The technique was able to eliminate unnecessary implantations of defibrillators, and could also be used to save the lives of a much larger number of at-risk patients.

Professor Natalia Trayanova, Johns Hopkins University, said, "Our virtual heart test significantly outperformed several existing clinical metrics in predicting future arrhythmic events. This non-invasive and personalized virtual heart-risk assessment could help prevent sudden cardiac deaths and allow patients who are not at risk to avoid unnecessary defibrillator implantations. We demonstrated that VARP is better than any other arrhythmia prediction method that is out there. By accurately predicting which patients are at risk of sudden cardiac death, the VARP approach will provide the doctors with a tool to identify those patients who truly need the costly implantable device, and those for whom the device would not provide any life-saving benefits."

Related Links:
Johns Hopkins University

Gold Member
Solid State Kv/Dose Multi-Sensor
AGMS-DM+
Compact C-Arm with FPD
Arcovis DRF-C R21
MRI System
uMR 588
New
Ultrasound Software
UltraExtend NX

Print article

Channels

Ultrasound

view channel
Image: Structure of the proposed transparent ultrasound transducer and its optical transmittance (Photo courtesy of POSTECH)

Ultrasensitive Broadband Transparent Ultrasound Transducer Enhances Medical Diagnosis

The ultrasound-photoacoustic dual-modal imaging system combines molecular imaging contrast with ultrasound imaging. It can display molecular and structural details inside the body in real time without... Read more

Nuclear Medicine

view channel
Image: PET/CT of a 60-year-old male patient with clinical suspicion of lung cancer (Photo courtesy of EJNMMI Physics)

Early 30-Minute Dynamic FDG-PET Acquisition Could Halve Lung Scan Times

F-18 FDG-PET scans are a way to look inside the body using a special dye, and these scans can be either static or dynamic. Static scans happen 60 minutes after the dye is administered into the body, showing... Read more

Imaging IT

view channel
Image: The new Medical Imaging Suite makes healthcare imaging data more accessible, interoperable and useful (Photo courtesy of Google Cloud)

New Google Cloud Medical Imaging Suite Makes Imaging Healthcare Data More Accessible

Medical imaging is a critical tool used to diagnose patients, and there are billions of medical images scanned globally each year. Imaging data accounts for about 90% of all healthcare data1 and, until... Read more

Industry News

view channel
Image: The acquisition will expand IBA’s medical imaging quality assurance offering (Photo courtesy of Radcal)

IBA Acquires Radcal to Expand Medical Imaging Quality Assurance Offering

Ion Beam Applications S.A. (IBA, Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium), the global leader in particle accelerator technology and a world-leading provider of dosimetry and quality assurance (QA) solutions, has entered... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.