Science
Channel 4 to air 24 Hours in A&E: Heart Special
Three people who have had serious heart and circulatory conditions are to be the focus of a new 24 Hours in A&E: Heart Special, in partnership with us.
The show, which initially aired on Friday, 20 March, will be repeated on Sunday, 13 September at 8pm on More4. The show will revisit the stories of three people who previously featured on the series.
Corey was brought to St George’s Hospital in 2017 after having a cardiac arrest when he was just 24 years old. He was placed in an induced coma for four days and was diagnosed with Brugada Syndrome, a rare condition which affects the electrical activity of the heart that can lead to abnormal heart rhythms and sudden death.
Just recently, Corey, now aged 27, had another cardiac arrest. However, thanks to an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD), he was back on his feet after 15 minutes.
After feeling unwell at a family barbecue, Angie went to St George’s A&E in 2016, where it was found that she had a very fast heart rate. Angie had already been diagnosed with a faulty LMNA gene which causes a condition called cardiomyopathy.
Doctors weren’t able to bring her heart rate down with intravenous medication, leaving them with no other choice but to administer an external controlled shock to her heart to bring it back to normal rhythm. As her heart rate still occasionally increases to an unsafe rate. She now has an ICD, as does her son who inherited the same faulty gene.
Our research has helped discover many of the genes involved in cardiomyopathies. This has paved the way for genetic testing services for families like Angie’s to ensure they get the treatment that could prevent a sudden cardiac arrest.
The third person to be featured in the show, Steve went to St George’s A&E in 2017 when he noticed his heart rate had doubled within an hour. Having suffered a stroke just weeks earlier, and with a family history of heart attacks, Steve was concerned that there was something seriously wrong. After a series of follow-up tests, Steve was also found to have a tumour near his heart. Since then Steve has had heart surgery to remove the mass.
Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, our Associate Medical Director, said:
“The Heart Special is a great opportunity to demonstrate how BHF-funded research and innovation has led to life saving treatments for people with heart and circulatory problems. From pacemakers to heart transplants, genetic testing to statins, our research has been vital to many breakthroughs.
“But as 24 Hours in A&E shows, people are still attending hospital with heart and circulatory conditions every day, and there are more life changing, life saving advances to make. We hope the programme will inspire more support for our pioneering research to beat heartbreak forever.”
24 Hours in A&E: Heart Special highlights the difference that our life saving research can make to the seven million people across the UK living with heart and circulatory conditions.