Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome

Every week three young people die unexpectedly from rare heart conditions that they didn’t know they had. This is called Sudden Arrhythmic Death Syndrome (SADS).

The rhythm of the heart beat is controlled by natural electrical currents in our heart cells. Disruption of this electrical current can cause a disturbance to heart beat that can lead to SADS.

Ground-breaking research

Our scientists have been investigating the electrical and structural problems that lead to SADS, so that we can get better at identifying people at risk and provide treatments to prevent these tragic deaths.

Genetics

Professor Bill McKenna and his team were supported by the BHF to identify genetic clues that might explain how this condition occurs. A state of the art Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine provided by the BHF helped the team to learn more about how these genes might work to control heart function. 

Electrical disturbance

With BHF funding, researchers at Papworth Hospital have developed a way to predict SADS risk by measuring electrical ‘disorganisation’ in the heart. By identifying this type of electrical disturbance, the researchers hope to prevent SADS in people suffering from a range of different heart diseases. 

Life-saving devices

In the 1990s research by BHF Professor John Camm demonstrated the benefits of a device called an internal cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for patients at high risk of ventricular fibrillation.

He pioneered the use of these devices for people at risk of SADS. Patients at high risk can be fitted with an internal cardioverter defibrillator, which helps prevent SADS by giving the heart a kick-start when its rhythm is disrupted.

What’s next?

We fund a great many research projects looking at the genes and proteins that control the spread of electrical currents across the heart muscle. It is thought that disruptions in this control might hold the key to understanding heart rhythm disturbances that cause SADS.

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