Many patients with heart disease are at increased risk of arrhythmias, which can sometimes lead to cardiac arrest and death. Some patients with a high risk are advised to get an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD), i.e. a device permanently implanted under the skin which can restore normal heart rhythm in case of cardiac arrest. However, selecting patients who need an ICD represents a major challenge, as some patients may never need their defibrillator, while for others, it could be a lifesaver. Identification of tools to aid selection is a pressing topic of interest to researchers around the world.
It has been known for some time that myocardial strain, a measure of heart function, is a sensitive way to measure myocardial function. In a recent Editorial in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Emil Espe and Mathis Korseberg Stokke at IEMR comment on recent work from Harvard Medical School that suggest that the right ventricle—sometimes considered the “forgotten” heart chamber—carries information that might help doctors decide which patients would benefit from receiving a defibrillator device.
This new insight again illustrates the importance of developing and implementing robust methods for measuring heart function, including in the right ventricle. This line of research has been a principal area of interest at IEMR for several years. Espe and Stokke underscore that further research is needed to explore the value of right ventricular strain and shed light on the link between the left and right heart function in high-risk arrhythmia conditions.