TACT-VT
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Tools to assess impact of VT ablation on scar characteristics
IRAS ID
325534
Contact name
Shahnaz Jamil-Copley
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 4 months, 31 days
Research summary
Ventricular Tachycardia (VT) is a life-threatening rhythm condition often caused by abnormal conduction of electrical activity within heart muscle scarring. Treatment is challenging with medication not always sufficient. Subsequently, patients may require procedures aimed at identifying and burning areas of scarring within the heart to stop this abnormal electrical conduction (ablation).
Ablation procedures utilise wires with sensors to generate a map of the heart with location and paired electrical data. Unfortunately, procedures can be long, challenging if sufficient data is to be collected. For patients, even post-procedure, recurrence of VT is not uncommon.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the heart can highlight areas of scar pre-procedural that could be targeted and have been shown to improve patient outcomes. In addition to the identification of scar location, 3D meshes of the heart from MRIs can be imported into the procedural mapping software as a navigational aide.
Therefore, there is the opportunity to correlate pre-procedural MRI features with those found intra-procedurally potentially improving the identification of critically abnormal areas to ablate.
However, due to challenges in data collection at MRI and during procedures, there can be differences between the images generated. This may be further affected by progression in disease in the time between scanning and undertaking the procedure. Currently, it is not clear how to best compare and analysis the data between the modalities.
We propose to develop tools to allow analysis and comparison of these modalities. Using pre-existing patient data of people who have undergone VT ablation procedures locally, we will explore methods to compare and analyse data for use in future studies. Participants will not need to undergo further procedures or interventions as pre-existing data will be used.REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/EM/0205
Date of REC Opinion
12 Sep 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion