3D Virtual Heart to predict sudden Cardiac death risk

Scientists have developed a new non-invasive, personalized 3D virtual heart assessment tool to help doctors determine whether a patient faces a risk of life-threatening arrhythmia. When electrical waves in heart run amok in a condition called arrhythmia, sudden death can occur. To save the life of a patient at risk, doctors currently implant a small defibrillator to sense the onset of arrhythmia and jolt the heart back to a normal rhythm.

However, it is difficult to decide which patients truly need the invasive, costly electrical implant. “Our virtual heart test significantly outperformed several existing clinical metric in predicting future arrhythmic events”, scientists said. This is 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.

Researchers formed its predictions by using the distinctive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) records of patients who had survived a heart attack but were left with damaged cardiac tissue that predisposes the heart to deadly arrhythmias. The study involved data from 41 patients who had survived a heart attack and had an ejection fraction – a measure of how much blood is being pumped out of the heart – of less than 35%.

Researchers used a pre-implant MRI scans of the recipients’ hearts to build patient-specific digital replicas of the organs. Using computer modeling techniques, the geometrical replica of each patient’s heart was brought to life by incorporating representations of the electrical processes in the cardiac cells and the communication among cells.