Prime Highlights:
- Researchers at Imperial College London have developed a method using heart scans and medical data to better match medicines to patients’ heart conditions.
- The approach could lead to faster and more personalized treatments for heart disease, the leading cause of death in Europe.
Key Facts:
- Cardiovascular diseases affect around 62 million people in the European Union and cause nearly 1.7 million deaths each year (OECD).
- The study examined both healthy volunteers and patients with heart problems like atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and heart attacks to predict which medicines may work best.
Background:
A recent study has found a new way to improve treatment for heart disease, the main cause of death in Europe. Researchers at Imperial College London have developed a method that uses heart scans and medical records to find out which medicines work best for different heart problems.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) affect about 62 million people in the European Union and cause nearly 1.7 million deaths each year, according to the OECD. This new approach could help doctors make more accurate treatment decisions for their patients.
The method, called CardioKG, was built using heart scans from thousands of participants in the UK Biobank. The study looked at both healthy people and patients with heart problems like atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and heart attacks. By examining this information, researchers can better guess which medicines are most likely to help each patient.
“One of the main benefits of this system is that it brings together detailed information about genes, diseases, and treatments, allowing for more targeted drug identification,” explained Declan O’Regan, leader of the Computational Cardiac Imaging Group at Imperial College London.
The study has already suggested several possible treatment options. For example, methotrexate, a drug usually used for rheumatoid arthritis, might help people with heart failure. Some diabetes medicines called gliptins could benefit patients with atrial fibrillation. The research also indicated that caffeine might have a protective effect for some people with atrial fibrillation, although experts warn that this does not mean anyone should change their caffeine habits without consulting a doctor.
Looking ahead, the team plans to expand its model to create a patient-focused system that tracks disease progression over time. Khaled Rjoob, the study’s lead data science researcher, said: “This approach could open new opportunities for personalized treatments and for predicting when heart conditions are likely to develop.”
Experts say this innovative method could transform cardiovascular care by enabling faster identification of effective therapies and tailoring treatments to individual patients, potentially saving countless lives across Europe.
