We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies. Cookie Policy.

Features Partner Sites Information LinkXpress
Sign In
Advertise with Us

Download Mobile App




RT Offers Hope for High-Risk Arrhythmia Patients

By HospiMedica International staff writers
Posted on 09 Oct 2019
Print article
Image: According to a new study, RT can offer hope the VT patients who have exhausted other options (Photo courtesy of SPL).
Image: According to a new study, RT can offer hope the VT patients who have exhausted other options (Photo courtesy of SPL).
A single, high dose of radiation therapy (RT) can dramatically reduce episodes of ventricular tachycardia (VT) for more than two years, according to a new study.

Developed at the Washington University (WUSTL; St. Louis, MO, USA) School of Medicine, the noninvasive, outpatient procedure for treating VT is called EP-guided noninvasive cardiac radioablation (ENCORE). The novel therapy fuses electrocardiogram (ECG) and imaging data to pinpoint the scar tissue in the patient's heart responsible for the arrhythmias, and then targets it with a single dose of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT). ENCORE requires no general anesthesia, and allows patients to go home immediately after treatment.

In a phase I/II prospective trial, 19 patients who had life-threatening VT were treated with a single fraction (25 Gy) of SBRT. ENCORE led to a 94% reduction in VT episodes in the first six months after SBRT, with longer-term follow-up data showing that the effect persisted in 78% of patients for more than two years; overall survival was 52% after the second year. Of the nine patients who died, six suffered from cardiac deaths (heart failure and VT recurrence) and three from non-cardiac deaths (accident, amiodarone toxicity, and pancreatic cancer). The study was presented at the 61st annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), held during September 2019 in Chicago (IL, USA).

“Patients come to us as a last line of defense. They have few or no other options. Often, the primary reason we are treating them is because they were too sick to have more catheter ablation,” said lead author and study presenter Clifford Robinson, MD, an associate professor of radiation oncology and cardiology at WUSTL. “Given the relative novelty of this treatment approach, we are following our patients closely, conducting trials to gather more data and being careful not to make assumptions at this point.”

“An additional benefit to treatment was a reduction in the medications patients were taking, which resulted in fewer medication-related side effects and a higher quality of life,” concluded Dr. Robinson. “These patients were on heavy doses of medications, with side effects such as liver damage, lung damage, nausea, and thyroid problems. After they were treated, we could dramatically reduce their medications. We saw reduced VT, reduced medication and improved quality of life, at least in the intermediate term.”

In VT, the electrical signals in the heart’s lower chambers misfire, crippling the relaxation and refilling process and producing rapid arrhythmias. First line treatment for VT includes pharmaceuticals and an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Patients with recurrent VT often also undergo catheter ablation, which requires general anesthesia, takes up to nine hours to perform, holds a 5% mortality risk, and has a 50% chance that it won't stop VT arrhythmias from recurring. If catheter ablation does not control the VT, patients are left with few options beyond a heart transplant.

Related Links:
Washington University

Gold Member
SARS‑CoV‑2/Flu A/Flu B/RSV Sample-To-Answer Test
SARS‑CoV‑2/Flu A/Flu B/RSV Cartridge (CE-IVD)
Gold Member
Disposable Protective Suit For Medical Use
Disposable Protective Suit For Medical Use
Silver Member
Wireless Mobile ECG Recorder
NR-1207-3/NR-1207-E
New
Self-Driving Mobile C-arm
CIARTIC Move

Print article

Channels

Critical Care

view channel
Image: The permeable wearable electronics developed for long-term biosignal monitoring (Photo courtesy of CityUHK)

Super Permeable Wearable Electronics Enable Long-Term Biosignal Monitoring

Wearable electronics have become integral to enhancing health and fitness by offering continuous tracking of physiological signals over extended periods. This monitoring is crucial for understanding an... Read more

Surgical Techniques

view channel
Image: NTT and Olympus have begun the world\'s first joint demonstration experiment of a cloud endoscopy system (Photo courtesy of Olympus)

Cloud Endoscopy System Enables Real-Time Image Processing on the Cloud

Endoscopes, which are flexible tubes inserted into the body's natural openings for internal examination and biopsy collection, are becoming increasingly vital in medical diagnostics. Their minimal invasiveness... Read more

Patient Care

view channel
Image: The newly-launched solution can transform operating room scheduling and boost utilization rates (Photo courtesy of Fujitsu)

Surgical Capacity Optimization Solution Helps Hospitals Boost OR Utilization

An innovative solution has the capability to transform surgical capacity utilization by targeting the root cause of surgical block time inefficiencies. Fujitsu Limited’s (Tokyo, Japan) Surgical Capacity... Read more

Health IT

view channel
Image: First ever institution-specific model provides significant performance advantage over current population-derived models (Photo courtesy of Mount Sinai)

Machine Learning Model Improves Mortality Risk Prediction for Cardiac Surgery Patients

Machine learning algorithms have been deployed to create predictive models in various medical fields, with some demonstrating improved outcomes compared to their standard-of-care counterparts.... Read more

Point of Care

view channel
Image: The PATHFAST hs-cTnI-II high-sensitivity troponin assay has been developed for the PATHFAST Biomarker Analyzer (Photo courtesy of Polymedco)

POC Myocardial Infarction Test Delivers Results in 17 Minutes

Chest pain is the second leading cause of emergency department (ED) visits by adults in the United States, generating over 7 million visits annually. In the event of a suspected heart attack, physicians... Read more
Copyright © 2000-2024 Globetech Media. All rights reserved.