Patients and clinicians at Addenbrooke’s Hospital have helped develop a new way of identifying those at risk of an irregular heartbeat, known as ‘atrial fibrillation’.
While not life threatening, the condition increases people’s risk of having a transient ischaemic attack (TIA), or stroke, by up to five times.
A new study, published today, reveals four specific factors that can predict which patients will have atrial fibrillation. These include older age, higher diastolic blood pressure, and problems with the coordination and function of the upper left chamber of the heart.
The team went on to create an easy tool for doctors to use in practice to identify those at high risk. And they hope that this will help diagnose and treat more patients, reducing their risk of future strokes.
The research team collected data from 323 patients across the East of England, treated at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who had had a stroke with no cause identified- known as Embolic Stroke of Undetermined Source.
They analysed medical records as well as data from prolonged heart rhythm monitoring. They also studied their echocardiograms.
Among the study authors from CUH are consultants in stroke medicine Dr Kayvan Khadjooi and Dr Elizabeth Warburton, and main researcher Dr Panagiota Anna Chousou from the Department of Cardiology.
Dr Khadjooi said:
We were delighted to support this piece of research since anything that can be done to reduce stroke, and the devastating impact it can have on patients and their families, is very worthwhile. The tool for predicting those at risk is a particularly useful and practical outcome.
This study resulted from the collaborative efforts in treating patients with stroke between the departments of stroke and cardiology at CUH over many years.
Dr Kayvan Khadjooi
Lead researcher Prof Vassilios Vassiliou, from UEA’s Norwich Medical School and honorary consultant cardiologist at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, added: “We identified four parameters that were linked with the development of atrial fibrillation, which were consistently present in patients that had this arrhythmia. We then developed a model that can be used to predict who will show atrial fibrillation in the next three years, and is therefore at increased risk of another stroke in the future.
This is a very easy tool that any doctor can use in clinical practice. It can potentially help doctors provide more targeted and effective treatment to these patients, ultimately aiming to highlight the people at higher risk of this arrhythmia that can benefit from prolonged heart rhythm monitoring and earlier anticoagulation to prevent a future stroke.
Prof Vassilios Vassiliou
The research was led by the University of East Anglia in collaboration with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, West Suffolk Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the University of Cambridge, the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and the University of Newcastle.
‘Atrial Fibrillation in Embolic Stroke of Undetermined Source: Role of advanced imaging of left atrial function’ is published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology and simultaneously presented at the European Society of Cardiology in Amsterdam.
Listing image: Stroke by geralt on pixabay