Sudden cardiac death: New imaging technology offers hope for people at risk

Every year, about 15,000 Australians die from sudden cardiac arrest but little is known about the condition.

Researchers at Flinders University in South Australia are trialling new imaging technology to better identify those at risk.

Heart attacks can increase the risk of sudden cardiac death and so can scarring on the heart.

Rebecca Perry from Flinders University said scarring could be difficult to see with current ultrasound imaging.

"It isn't good enough because we're not predicting people who are at risk of sudden cardiac death," she said.

The new software being trialled by the university is known as strain imaging.

"It's basically a software that looks very closely at the echo image, at really the speckles in it and it tracks it over time and it can tell us whether it's scar or whether it's normal working muscle," Dr Perry said.

It works like current ultrasounds but initial findings are indicating the image quality is better.

Dr Perry said that meant doctors could zoom in and detect scarring they could not previously see.

"The strain technology has improved to a point where we can see this on over 90 per cent of people and use the software," she said.

"This is hugely significant because we can actually tell people that they're at greater risk of sudden cardiac death.

"And guide them to therapy to help that."
Early identification key to preventing death

According to the Heart Foundation, which funded the study, one third of sudden cardiac deaths occur without any warning.

South Australia's Heart Foundation chief executive Imelda Lynch believes early identification is the key to prevention.

"We really want to get the message out there that prevention is better than cure," she said.

"So the more that we can do to reduce the impact of heart disease on people, then that's really important work."

Dr Perry said current guidelines do not allow for those who have suffered a mild to moderate heart failure to receive a cardiac defibrillator.

"If we can show the scar in a much better way then people who would normally miss out on getting a defibrillator may actually qualify for one, which has the potentially to save their life down the track," she said.

The trial is part of a wider international project called CMR Guide, looking at scarring on the heart.