Heart News
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Heart rhythm disordersResearchers have designed tiny microwave devices to destroy diseased heart tissue. The treatment, targeted at patients with heart rhythm disorders, is meant to heat a problem area to block abnormal electrical signals. Its developers say it would take only a few seconds, and is more accurate than existing treatments, with fewer side effects. The heart normally beats between 60 and 80 times a minute. In patients with arrhythmia, the condition targeted, the heart rate becomes abnormally rapid, slow or irregular. A fast heart rate is often caused by an extra electrical connection between the chambers of the heart. Destruction or removal of the tissue destroys the extra connection. At present, there are a number of treatments for heart rhythm disorders, including surgery, drugs, and radio frequency or RF. RF treatment requires surgeons to insert electrodes into the heart, which Dr Ananda Mohan, of microwave treatment developers the University of Technology in Sydney, says the new method would not. He says it could be in use within four years. Dr Tim Bowker, associate director of the British Heart Foundation, says: ‘various types of high-intensity energy have been tried to treat heart rhythm disorders without open-heart surgery. Electrical energy is most often used in humans, but there’s no sign microwave energy is about to replace this method.’ |
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