Heart diseases are one of the leading causes of death all over the globe. With the newest method by researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of Hull, it seems that there's a new possible treatment for this all time silent killer.
In an article in The Sun, the said research team from the aforementioned institutions were able to identify where the abnormal rhythm happens inside the heart of most patients suffering from heart diseases. As published in the PLOS Computational Biology, this phenomenon is referred to as the "atrial fibrillation" which usually leads to blood clots and even up to the detrimental stroke.
The said study also stated that the atrial fibrillation happens to 1 to 2 percent of the population. Patients, usually belonging to the ageing group, suffering from these abnormal heart rhythms usually feel some heavy pounding on their chests.
The study also shared that there were already some existing initiatives to locate and identify the sources of these abnormal rhythms in the heart, but most tend to be very tedious. One of the current methods known among cardiac surgeons is the use of catheter which will isolate the said abnormal rhythms. Many surgeons have imparted that using such method in surgeries can be very invasive.
As noted in the Science Daily, the researchers of the newly found method made use of a virtual human heart-torso together with a vest made of a 64-lead electrocardiogram or ECG. This setup was used to monitor the correlation of the abnormalities in the rhythm of the heart alongside their corresponding ECG signals. Using this technology, the researchers were able to easily pin point the location of the atrial fibrillation in a non-invasive way.
Professor Henggui Zhang, the head researcher for this study, imparted that this technique that his team found out can actually open a lot of doors in the surgery world. Zhang also added that with this new technology, several heart problems can soon be solved in a more effective yet simple approach.
