Virtual 3D model of the heart will help cure tachycardia
A research group from the Johns Hopkins University has successfully conducted a personalized virtual 3D heart simulation to determine the location of the cardiac tissue responsible for irregular and rapid contraction in patients with tachycardia . The work was conducted under the guidance of Professor Natalia Trayanova. The results were published on September 12 on the site of the educational institution.
When a healthy heart is compressed to pierce blood throughout the body, a wave of electrical signals passes through it, which stimulates one after another each heart cell. Then the heart "relaxes" and becomes filled with blood. In people with ventricular tachycardia, electrical signals in the lower chambers of the heart fail and interfere with the natural process of relaxation, causing arrhythmia . This pathology annually leads to the death of about 300 thousand people in the United States. Drugs against tachycardia often have many serious side effects and limitations, so quite often doctors resort to the method of cardiac ablation: the introduction of a catheter through the artery and the use of radio-frequency waves that destroy tissue sites in which electrical disturbances occur. Mapping the electrical functionality of the heart with a catheter helps identify the problem areas of the tissue, but the accuracy of such a diagnosis is low.
To more accurately determine the affected areas of the heart, Trayanova, along with colleagues, developed personalized 3D virtual models of the hearts of 21 subjects with ablation in the anamnesis, based on MRI images with contrast. Each cell of the cardiac tissue in the model simulated the generation of electrical signals using mathematical equations. Checking the functioning of electrical signals in virtual heart tissues, the computer model determined the location of the affected tissue. After that, scientists mimicked ablation and restarted the model to test the results. The results showed that virtual simulation allowed scientists not only to correctly determine the sources of ectopic electrical signals, but also to perform ablation with minimal loss of healthy tissue. For example,
The virtual model helped specialists to perform cardiac ablation in several patients with ventricular tachycardia from a hospital at the University of Pennsylvania. After the procedure, the participants in the clinical experiment did not experience heart problems for an average of 22 months. With this prospective test, the research team demonstrated the possibility of integrating computer simulation into clinical practice. This technology can also reduce the need for repeated procedures.
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