Clinical trials

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a life-threatening heart rhythm disorder and one of the commonest causes of heart-related sudden death. It often affects people who have had a heart attack or other structural heart damage. VT occurs when abnormal electrical circuits develop within and around scar tissue in the heart. People at risk are usually offered an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD), a device that can detect VT and deliver a lifesaving shock. While effective, these shocks can be sudden, painful and distressing. Medications such as amiodarone can also help, but they are often unsuitable for long-term use due to their potential side effects on the liver, lungs and thyroid gland. An alternative is catheter ablation. Thin tubes (catheters) are threaded from a blood vessel in the groin to the heart, allowing the cardiologist to identify scar tissue and abnormal electrical circuits, which can be destroyed using heat, freezing or electrical energy. Although ablation can help many patients, VT can return in up to one in three people after the procedure. This is because it can be difficult to precisely identify the scar and surrounding tissue that sustain the abnormal circuits, making it challenging to know exactly where to apply ablation treatment. Dynamic Voltage Mapping, is a technique which the investigators believe can more accurately identify scar and the critical bordering tissue during ablation. Initial data collected suggests that the approach accurately predicts the VT circuit and helps guide ablation. In this study, the investigators wish to recruit 40 participants undergoing VT ablation to determine how effective Dynamic Voltage Mapping is in real-world procedures.

The diagnosis of either asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is currently based on a combination of symptoms, different lung tests and sometimes a 'trial by treatment'. Both COPD and Asthma tests currently include forced breathing using a test known as spirometry which can be difficult and uncomfortable for people to perform and needs expert interpretation. Asthma can require multiple tests in sequence which can make the process of diagnosis long and inconvenient for patients. In the UK, there have been challenges providing enough testing for COPD and asthma, in part because the tests are challenging to provide in the community to everyone who needs one. The STARDUST study aims to test and develop new ways of diagnosing asthma and COPD that are quick, accurate and easy for patient and healthcare professionals to perform. People who have been referred for routine lung testing will breathe normally in and out into a handheld device called the N-Tidal Handset for 75 seconds. This device measures how the level of carbon dioxide (CO2) changes in the breath as people breath through it. The information gathered on the N-Tidal Handsets, called breath records or capnograms, will not be used to alter the diagnosis of any participants in the study. After the capnograms have been collected, the research team will test 'algorithms' that have been developed using artificial intelligence, to see if they can accurately identify the correct diagnosis. Information collected in the study will also be used to make improvements in these algorithms. If confirmed to be accurate, these algorithms could be used in clinical practice to help healthcare professionals make faster, more accessible and accurate diagnoses, especially in settings like GP clinics in the community where access to specialist tests may be limited.

Doctors and nurses who perform heart procedures using X-ray guidance are exposed to radiation, which can be harmful over time. This exposure increases the risk of certain health problems, including cancers, eye damage (cataracts), and DNA damage. Although protective lead clothing is used to reduce exposure, it is heavy, uncomfortable, and can cause muscle and joint problems for those who wear it daily. A new radiation protection device, called RAMPART, may help reduce radiation exposure for heart specialists and their teams. It could also allow them to wear lighter protective gear-or none at all-making their work safer and more comfortable. This study will compare the radiation levels received by doctors and nurses during heart procedures when using RAMPART versus standard protection. By doing so, we hope to find out if this new device can better protect medical teams from radiation, improving both their safety and well-being.