A group of patients gathered recently to talk to researchers about an innovative new medical device called LifeMap being developed at the NIHR Leicester BRC.
The LifeMap-QUEST Public and Patient Involvement (PPI) Advisory group were invited to give their thoughts on information to be used on the LifeMap website. LifeMap will give a more accurate assessment of a person’s risk of serious heart rhythm disturbance, and Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) by measuring two specific risk markers on an ECG reading.
The all day workshop, led by the LifeMap QUEST PPI lead Dr David Clayton with input from the overall project lead, Professor of Cardiac Electrophysiology at the University of Leicester, Andre Ng, took place at College Court on 29 November 2024.
Rachel Hobson, Electrophysiology Research Manager at the University of Leicester, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the group for giving up their time to take part in this key public involvement activity for the research project”.
“Their thoughts, comments and suggestions will be used to inform the LifeMapwebsite which will be incredibly valuable, so thank you for your contributions.”
The workshop received positive feedback “We feel that our involvement is making a difference” and “Always very informative. Loved the talk about the history of LifeMap development and other projects in the pipeline”.
More on LifeMap
Sudden Cardiac Death (SCD) is responsible for over 3 million deaths worldwide every year. The majority of these are due to serious heart rhythm problems, which could be managed with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs).
However, it can be difficult to identify those who are most at risk of SCD and would benefit from an ICD due to the current way of assessing someone’s risk of these heart rhythm problems.
Therefore, many people whose lives could have been saved with ICDs, do not receive them.
Additionally a number of people who do receive ICDs never use them.
LifeMap is an innovative risk stratification technology that allows for a more accurate assessment of a person’s risk of serious heart rhythm disturbance.
The team have already developed two novel ECG risk markers which have shown a high positive predictive value of SCD and ventricular arrhythmia events. In addition, the team has developed a medical device worn by patients when undertaking an exercise ECG test or ‘stress’ test called the LifeMap-VEST. This produces a more accurate ECG recording making the identification of the markers more reliable.
A LifeMap test on someone who has had a heart attack could lead to appropriate protection with an ICD.
For more on the work of the Cardiovascular theme of the NIHR Leicester BRC, please click here.
For more on the Patient and Public Involvement activity, and to get involved, please click here.