Medtronic has conducted a long-running study that has found a way of using a genetic test to help predict some irregular heartbeats. The test can also be used to prevent the sudden cardiac death.
As per official reports, sudden cardiac arrests claim lives of more than 300,000 Americans every year. In the recent study announced by the device maker Medtronic, the company's team of researchers found a link between a single genes and sudden cardiac arrest resulting to death. The Medtronic researchers also found that nearly 50% odds of ventricular tachyarrhythmias, a particular heart rhythm, can turn fatal.
According to researchers, the link does not directly prove that a genetic mutation can cause the danger. But doctors can use the discovery in order to identify candidates for implanted defibrillators that can prevent cardiac arrest.
According to Samir Saba, chief of cardiac electrophysiology at Downtown-based UPMC, these findings are a step forward in finding better ways of preventing sudden cardiac death. Dr Saba added that the published guidelines focus upon heart muscle strength for recommending doctors to take into consideration the option of the implants for patients without past cardiac problems. According to him, the current approach lacks some sophistication, giving some patients implants they won't need and leaving a lot of at-risk people without the device.
At present, fatality rates among patients who suffer sudden, non-traumatic cardiac arrest outside a hospital run about 90%. The Dublin-based medical device producer company Medtronic is the largest of its kind in the world. The company funded the research presented in London, at the European Society of Cardiology Congress. Their research project involved two studies. The first one was based out of St. Marien-Hospital Mulheim in Germany and it had 1,145 participant patients in Europe. The second study is an ongoing research led through the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles.
The findings of the research team at may help physicians someday treat the condition with gene-manipulation techniques. However in the short term, it could help identify patients who can benefit most from getting an implanted cardiac defibrillator such the ones Medtronic makes.
