Centre for Heart Research

The Centre for Heart Research is focused on finding better treatments for patients with abnormal heart rhythms and to cures these conditions.

Ventricular trachycardia (VT) is a debilitating condition that causes the heart to beat rapidly, affecting the heart’s pumping chambers or ventricles. It usually occurs when the heart muscle has sustained damaged from previous heart attacks and can cause sudden death.

VT is treated using a defibrillator, a device which triggers a painful electric shock to normalise the heartbeat. A therapy can be applied which modifies abnormal electrical activity responsible for VT, reducing the need for patients to undergo the electric shocks. This method uses radiofrequency ablation to heat the heart tissue using electrical energy to destroy small regions responsible for VT. To locate these areas more effectively, researchers are working on a three-dimensional mapping system, which is based on satellite navigation technology, to guide clinicians directly to the scarred areas.

Researchers are also developing a novel catheter, which is positioned within the patient’s heart to indicate where abnormal electrical activity is originating from. This can be done from a single abnormal heartbeat, which is a major improvement on previous methods. The ultimate aim for researchers is to perfect these innovations so patients with VT may be cured of the condition. Researchers have also been working on improving outcomes for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), rapid heart-beating in the upper heart chamber, which leads to stroke in about 15 per cent of people aged over 75 years.

Technology developed in France to isolate electrical triggers that cause AF is being offered to Westmead Hospital patients as an alternative to medication or open-heart surgery. Researchers at the centre are working to improve the 70 per cent efficacy of this treatment and to improve the procedure’s success rate.

Among other projects, researchers have begun collaborating with Westmead Hospital’s cardiothoracic unit to investigate ways of refining the artificial mitral valve used to replace the diseased valve in patients.

Dr Pramesh Kovoor is the Director of the Centre for Heart Research.