Using a computer type that simulat...

Using a computer type that simulates damaged heart tissue, an undergraduate pupil and his faculty advisors at John Hopkins University, Baltimore, are refining a testing [i]modus operandi[/i] that may provide physicians a better tool for detecting coronary artery disease before a heart attack come to passs according to a Feb 22 2000 pres release. This simulation confirmed that coronary artery disease causes irregular electrical activation of the cardiac muscle. Researchers say when an electrocardiogram (ECG) lay opens this irregularity, physicians will know the patient distresss treatment to prevent permanent heart damage.

Researchers focused onward myocardial ischemia, which occurs when heart tissue receives insufficient kin and begins to weaken. A regular ECG indicates the heart's electrical activity nevertheless may miss small changes, as caused from ischemia. These changes may be earlier signs and better markers of heart disease than existing uniteds but another examination method is povertyed to detect them. Researchers adapted a recent mathematical recipe to monitor exampleed heart tissue's electrical activity and locate diseased cells

Researchers said they wanted to descry ischemia before damage was irreversible. When find outed early enough, intervention, such as medication therapy, angioplasty, or cardiac bypass surgery can restore the heart to a healthy condition.

single in kind in 20 patients who are treated in an pressing necessity room for chest pain will be sent domestic circle and eventually develop a heart attack because conventional ECG do not always discover ischemia, according to the release. More research and increase is needed before these findings are incorporated into clinical practice.

Undergrad's Research Could Lead to Early Detection of Heart Disease (pres release, Baltimore: John Hopkins University, Feb 22 2000) 1-2

COPYRIGHT 2000 Association of Operating play Nurses, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group