A group of doctors and scientists at UPF’s BCN Medtech Unit and the Hospital Clinic has confirmed that simulating a patient’s blood circulation could enhance surveillance or assess if more patient follow-up is required. The results of the study have already been reported in 2 scholarly journals, Revista Espaola de Cardologa and Maths.
Before recently, the major therapy for this ailment was anticoagulant medications, which people had to use each day for the rest of their lives. Apart from the obvious issues, all people impacted were unable to use the tablets owing to other diseases or therapeutic restrictions due to the danger of hemorrhaging.
Simulations Of Blood Flow Could Help In Atrial Fibrillation Monitoring
Various medical conditions can be affected by AF, which is considered a serious medical issue. However, the experts have found numerous options, among which the option of simulation of blood flow is considered as a vital one.
The experts have checked different people who received this treatment and seen the changes they have got in their medical condition after going for this option. Most patients have got positive results and improvements in a short span which was not even achieved by other options undertaken by the team of experts.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a kind of arrhythmia that affects the left atrium and is particularly prevalent in the aged. Furthermore, it raises the risk of an embolism before. As a result, strokes due to clotting or thrombus form in the left atrial and travel to the head.
Now, a surgical procedure known as middle atrial tract closing is available. “It is a minimally invasive intervention that closes the left atrial appendage, the cavity where the thrombus forms, thanks to the placement of a small device that seals its contents,” explains Jordi Mill, first author of the research and researcher with the UPF BCN Medtech Unit. He adds that “it is a good alternative as, the same or the next day, the patient can return to normal life and need no longer take anticoagulants.”
The changes in bloodstream patterns discovered in the models among the two categories were fairly obvious, and they confirmed the doctors’ hypotheses.
The scientific profession assumed that the issue is caused by the device’s positioning it favors regions of blood circulation stasis with low-speed cycling that would start the thrombus creation, dependent on the direction. This notion, according to Jordi Mill, “is difficult to validate with existing medical pictures since they are not of sufficiently high resolution to detect these flow patterns near the implanted device.”
Dr. DabitArzamendi, from the Department of Cardiology of the Hospital de la Santa Creu y Sant Pau, remarks that “this study can have an important clinical impact to improve the subsequent treatment that patients will receive.” Despite this, Dr. Xavier Freixa from the Department of Cardiology at Hospital Clínic explains that “we will need more extensive series to better understand the findings of this first study.”
The models revealed obvious variations in blood circulation patterns among the two categories, corroborating the clinicians’ assumptions that specific placements of the devices encourage flowing recirculating and standstill at modest velocities, increasing the likelihood of thrombosis development.
For practical purposes, Mill asserts, “this study reveals two relevant findings that can greatly improve the resolution of the problem; on the one hand, performing personalized flow simulations for each patient before undergoing the operation, to judge the best position for the device, and on the other hand, to apply simulations after the operation, in cases where the device has remained in a position that risks forming a thrombus, to determine whether there is a need to follow up the patient more closely.”