250 electrodes to find inefficiency of heart

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Just about any problem with the body — broken bones, tumors, infection, blockage — can be found with noninvasive imaging techniques such as X-rays, MRI and CT scans. No such technique exists, however, when it comes to finding the source of dangerous irregular heartbeats. Diagnosis requires inserting an electrode-carrying catheter into the heart. The roving probe takes several hours to “map” the heart’s electrical activity, obtaining recordings from many points in and around the organ.

Researchers at Washington University are working to change that. A study the researchers released last month shows that a technique involving 250 electrodes placed on a vest across a patient’s torso can quickly and accurately detect ventricle tachycardia.

Tachycardia is a rapid heartbeat that can lead to ventricular fibrillation — which causes about 400,000 sudden deaths each year in the United States. “Nobody can imagine medicine today without noninvasive imaging, If you have a suspicious backache, you often get an MRI,” said Washington U. biomedical engineer Yoram Rudy. “Yet, nothing like this has existed for cardiac arrhythmias, which, as our population ages, are becoming more and more common.”

Ref and Read more: https://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/fitness/article_9f3143d2-a393-5870-8efd-b3312e125de6.html

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