Study reveals the root cause of deadly cardiac arrhythmias. It turns out that the fat that accumulates inside the heart plays an important role in its development.
Heart attacks damage the heart, making patients more vulnerable to arrhythmias that can lead to sudden death. Not every victim of a heart attack develops an arrhythmia, and if it does, then, on average, three years after a heart attack. And now it has been established that in such patients, fat penetrates into the wall of the heart in the area of the scar. For the first time, a clear relationship has been shown between these fat deposits and the development of arrhythmias.
Named the main danger of insomnia
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have shown that the mixing of fat with scar tissue is the main driving force behind the development of heart rhythm disturbances – its electrical functions. The conclusions were made on the basis of virtual 3D copies of the heart and its electrical functions, which were created personally for patients with various heart diseases.
High growth makes a person prone to deadly arrhythmia
Scientists needed to understand whether scarring in the heart or the presence of fat in the wall of the heart contributes to the development of arrhythmia after a heart attack. The researchers analyzed numerous images of patients' hearts to see scarring and fat intrusion. This is a prospective clinical study in which participants underwent both an MRI and a CT scan. (READ MORE) 
University of Pennsylvania
Medicine
US private research university located in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania)