A team of researchers from University College London (UCL) developed a vest that could potentially be used to identify people at risk of death from sudden cardiac arrest.
The vest takes only minutes to put on and provides a detailed diagnosis of the heart’s electrical activity. This technology has been successfully tested on around 800 people and the results were so positive that it is being prepared for wider application.
One of the researchers, Doctor Gaby Captur from the UCL Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and the Royal Free Hospital, explained the device called an electrocardiography imaging vest or ECGI vest.
“Most cases of heart failure are caused by sudden, unusual and dangerous heart rhythms. And heart attacks can occur not only in those who have heart disease, but also in those whose hearts appear normal. This technology allows us to collect detailed electrical information of the heart and map it to its structure and function safely. The operating costs are quite low compared to other competing technologies.”
The low cost of this operation is because the ECGI vest can be reused. This vest uses dry electrode technology, not the wet electrodes used in traditional ECG examinations, so it is easy to clean and reuse.
According to the researchers, better risk stratification will help doctors identify people who need an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a device that monitors the heart’s rhythm and returns the heart to a normal rhythm if necessary.
High-Tech Vest Helps Doctors Predict Heart Attacks
ICD devices can save lives but they also carry the risk of infection and can cause problems if they deliver unnecessary shocks.
Doctor Matthew Webber is a cardiologist at Barts Heart Center in London, one of the largest heart hospitals in Europe. Webber also co-developed the ECGI vest with Captur.
He compared the new vest to a traditional EKG examination. He said traditional ECGs can cause discomfort and produce more waste.
“One of the problems is that gel electrodes are very uncomfortable for patients and can cause skin irritation. This gel electrode can only be used once, after that it is thrown away, whereas the ECGI vest we developed uses dry electrodes, so there is no need to use gel. So it’s much more convenient for the patient. “There is no irritation or discomfort on the skin,” he explained.
The vest is currently used to map the hearts of people with diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and dilated cardiomyopathy. UCL has now patented the ECGI vest in the US and is looking to produce the vest more widely. [ab/uh]
2023-12-19 17:08:16
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