July 28, 2008
Results of CARDIOSTIM: MFI – best support in cardiac risk stratification

PRESS RELEASE

 
Implantable defibrillators are a useful protection against sudden cardiac death – if implanted to the “right” patients. Therefore identification of these risk groups is an important aspect in cardiological diagnostic. Until now the decision for an ICD is based on the left-ventricular ejection fraction (EF) (< 30 % respective post MI < 35 %). However reality has shown that on the one hand many risk patients are not identified by this method and on the other hand a lot of patients (about 80 % in primary prevention) get an ICD without ever suffering from a life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia. With a magnetic field imaging examination there is a new method available that offers a more accurate risk stratification without any side effects for the patients. Among other things this new diagnostic method was discussed at the 16th World Congress in Cardiac Electrophysiology and Cardiac Techniques (CARDIOSTIM) which took place in Nice, France, end of June 2008. “The results of a MFI examination provide us an accurate basis for the diagnosis. We can, for example, identify patients whose EF is beyond 35 %, but nevertheless are threatened by a sudden cardiac death and require a therapy. But on the other hand it would also be possible to identify such patients, who receive an ICD according to current guidelines, but who do not benefit from it“, mentioned Prof. Karl-Heinz Kuck, Asklepios Hospital St. Georg Hamburg, Germany.
 
The magnetic signals of the heartbeat recorded by MFI include important additional information that other diagnostic methods cannot provide. For the risk stratification of an upcoming ventricular tachycardia (VT) the QRS complex of the heartbeat is edited and analysed by means of appropriate filter systems. Patients with documented VT have a typical QRS fragmentation.1 That fact is utilized by MFI.
The currently available Apollo CXS system by BMDSys Company, Germany, particularly stands out by the especially developed analysis software named MIANDA. The software enables a comfortable and extensive analysis of the data directly after the examination. Depending on the indication, the system provides the cardiologists with different data, 3D animations, graphics or curves for their diagnosis. “In our clinical workaday life we need safe, quick and efficient diagnosis systems in order to implement successful therapy. MFI could become one of these systems. If the further study results are convincing we will also, among the studies, make use of MFI in the clinical routine in future times“, said Kuck.
The diagnosis system does not implicate any side effects for the patients: It is non-invasive, contact-free, free of radiation and requires no contrast agent.
 
1 Brockmeier et al. Fragmented ventricular depolarization detectable in the QRS complex of the magnetocardiogram after filtering with binomial non-recursivefilters. Computer in Cardiology 1994; IEEE Computer Society Press, 1994: 685-687