A New Method For Quantifying the Synchrony of Contraction and Relaxation in the Heart

Emory University
posted on 08/21/2010

Applications

This technology has been developed to more accurately quantify cardiac dyssynchrony over the course of the entire cardiac cycle, which will help improve identification of candidates for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).

Highlights

Reliably quantifies cardiac dyssynchrony across the entire cardiac cycle, thereby enhancing accuracy.
Is compatible with current tissue Doppler velocity imaging technology (TDI), but can be applied to other imaging technologies including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
Has been used in small clinical studies.

Technical Summary

Cardiac dyssynchrony, a phenomenon in which different parts of the heart contract temporally out of phase, is both a chronic problem leading to enlargement of the heart, and an acute problem resulting in reduced heart efficiency. During Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) a "pacemaker" is implanted and used to contract the heart muscles synchronously, increasing pumping efficiency and correcting the dyssynchrony. Currently, electrocardiographic (ECG) assessment is used to identify candidates for CRT. However, tissue Doppler velocity imaging (TDI) has recently emerged as a more powerful tool to quantify dyssynchrony and accurately identify candidates for CRT. During TDI, the peak velocities of two opposing points on the left ventricular walls are measured and the size of the time difference between these peaks is quantified. Current TDI technology is limited by only comparing peak velocities, which can fail to identify some patients who could benefit from CRT. This invention contains both a novel system and method for quantifying cardiac dyssynchrony with increased accuracy compared to current techniques. By comparing multiple points along the entire cardiac velocity curves, this system and method enhance the accuracy of TDI, leading to improved identification of candidates for CRT. This technology can further be applied to other imaging methods including MRI.