This year has been a phenomenal year in our world of research. From lifesaving dementia treatments to using fruit flies to better understand how the heart forms, each discovery we fund helps bring us one step closer to eternal heartbreak. Here’s a look back at some of the research breakthroughs of 2023.

January: 500,000 people without access to medicine during pandemic

2023 started with the following news: Nearly 500,000 people were unable to start blood pressure treatment during the coronavirus pandemic. Researchers from UK Health Data Research’s BHF Data Science Center suggested that thousands of people could suffer avoidable heart attacks and strokes as a result of delays in starting treatment.

The findings highlight an important opportunity for the NHS to identify and treat people who should have started taking drugs to reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke, and the need to get heart care back on track. I made it.

February: Expectations for treatment of lacunar stroke

February brought New hope for treating a type of stroke called lacunar stroke. Lacunar stroke affects 25,000 people in the UK each year and is thought to be caused by cerebral small vessel disease. This type of stroke can affect a patient’s movement, memory, and thinking abilities. It is associated with almost half of all dementia cases and there is currently no treatment available.

A study presented at the American Heart Association’s International Stroke Conference found that two inexpensive, common drugs currently used to treat heart and circulatory disease, isosorbide mononitrate and cilostazol, were used in people who have had a lacunar stroke. It has been found that it can safely and effectively improve outcomes, especially for people who have experienced a collapse stroke. used in combination. If confirmed in future trials, the drug could be available to treat patients who have experienced lacunar stroke as early as five years later.

March: Drosophila reveals the process of heart formation

In March we spoke to Dr Timothy Saunders and his team at the University of Warwick. Using the Drosophila heart to understand the genetic basis of how the heart forms in the fetus.

Drosophila melanogaster has almost the same genes as the human heart. Dr. Saunders’ research focuses on how different genes interact early in development to determine how cells develop into different types of heart cells and “build” the heart. Masu. Dr. Saunders hopes this unique research method will help us better understand the human heart and inform new treatments for heart disease.

April: New heart disease and cancer treatment “blueprint”

Thanks to great research by our researchers, Safe cancer treatment is now more accessible than ever. Anticancer drug treatment is extremely important and can improve survival rates. However, in some cases it can cause side effects such as heart damage, which affects the heart’s ability to pump blood and can lead to debilitating heart failure.

Researchers identified this cause by studying the genomes of more than 37,000 heart disease-free participants from the UK Biobank. A team of researchers at University College London identified variants in the gene that codes for the ventricles, the chambers of the heart that pump blood, and identified 33 proteins associated with the risk of developing several heart diseases. Many of these proteins are targets of anticancer drugs. The research team hopes this work will accelerate drug development and provide a “blueprint” for new and safer cancer treatments that avoid damage to the heart.

May: AI improves heart attack diagnosis

In May, groundbreaking research from the University of Edinburgh revealed that Algorithms developed using artificial intelligence (AI) could be effective in diagnosing heart attacks. This algorithm evaluated his 10,286 participants and compared to existing testing methods he was able to rule out heart attacks in twice as many patients with 99.6% accuracy. This could allow hospitals to diagnose heart attacks more quickly and accurately than ever before. A clinical trial is currently underway to understand whether this algorithm can help relieve pressure on his A&E department.

June: ‘Zombie’ cells used to identify healthy hearts for transplantation

Currently, people over the age of 65 are considered unsuitable donors in the UK due to their age, leaving many hearts in short supply for transplants. However, we now know that our hearts age at different rates, and age is not necessarily the best indicator of heart health. Research presented at the British Cardiovascular Society conference in June suggested that: Test potential donors for the presence of harmful “zombie cells” – which can cause heart disease by hijacking neighboring cells – could help quickly determine whether a donor heart is suitable for transplant, increasing the number of hearts deemed viable There is likely to be.

July: Making a mental map

While many people spent the summer mapping their holidays, BHF researchers were busy mapping the heart. As part of the international Human Cell Atlas initiative, Imperial College London team creates heart atlas, diagrams the important cells that control and coordinate the rhythm of the heart. This atlas serves as a molecular guidebook to help researchers understand what happens when cells no longer function properly.

Researchers have unexpectedly discovered a close relationship between glial cells in the brain and cells that help maintain heart rhythm. This could open the door to new approaches to the prevention and treatment of potentially life-threatening heart rhythm disorders.

August: Shedding light on access to defibrillators

In August, a new study using data from The Circuit, a national defibrillator network, found that: The link between areas of high poverty and places where the nearest life-saving defibrillator is far away and difficult to access.

In England, people living in the most deprived areas have to travel 99 meters more to access a defibrillator than those living in the least deprived areas, and in Scotland they have to travel an additional 317 meters. . The study highlights alarming health inequalities, and researchers called for urgent action to ensure everyone has equal access to defibrillators to prevent unnecessary deaths. .

September: Benefits of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in early treatment

According to research, High-risk heart failure patients may benefit from receiving an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) early in treatment. The trial, led by researchers at King’s College London, recruited 700 volunteers from 40 hospitals across the UK to test the effectiveness of different treatment courses in people with coronary artery disease, which causes left ventricular weakness. The gender was analyzed.

The results of this study suggest that the benefit of stents may be limited for this group of patients, and that some people may not need to wait until after stent insertion to have a potentially lifesaving ICD inserted. Suggests. However, it is important to remember that stents are still very effective for heart attack patients and angina patients.

October Request for treatment for abdominal aortic aneurysm

International cooperation brought hope in October Ending 2,200 lives lost each year to abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) in the UK by repurposing cholesterol drugs. A genome-wide analysis of 39,000 AAA patients revealed new genes associated with the condition, one of which encodes a protein called PCSK9. In mice, researchers found that deficient PCSK9 caused aneurysms to grow more slowly, similar to the effects of drugs that inhibit PCSK9, making it an effective treatment to slow harmful growth. suggested that it was possible.

November: AI could save thousands at risk of heart attack

A new AI tool has been found to be able to predict the 10-year risk of heart attack in people with chest pain, who are not normally recognized as being at risk. Currently, patients undergo CT scans to check for vascular abnormalities, but in three-quarters of cases there are no obvious signs of stenosis. However, in some cases, smaller, undetectable strictures may go unnoticed, and these patients may have a heart attack in the future, even though they are initially discharged from the hospital feeling relieved.

The researchers developed and trained a new AI tool using information about fatty changes around inflamed arteries, as well as information about artery narrowing and other clinical risk factors. Their analysis revealed that they could independently and accurately predict the risk of cardiac events. The research team found that it was effective in providing AI-generated risk scores to clinicians and informing how to manage patients with chest pain.

December: A&E blood tests improve heart attack diagnosis.

In December, an unprecedented investigation revealed the following: New blood test could improve heart attack diagnosis in A&E patients. Blood tests that detect levels of a protein called troponin, which is released by the heart during a heart attack or heart injury, could improve the diagnosis of her one in five patients with heart muscle damage.

The new test can identify low levels of troponin more effectively than previous tests. The clinical trial studied around 50,000 participants across 10 different A&E departments and found that compared to the current form of the test, patients were less likely to have future hospital admissions in the five years after taking the new test. It was found that deaths were reduced by nearly 10%.

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