New data platform targeting heart rhythm disorders awarded new funding

A new data platform to transform heart rhythm disorder care has received a £2.4 million boost from the UK’s Medical Research Council.

The project, OpenEP|NET, builds on over a decade of work by Dr Steven Williams, of the University of Edinburgh, collaborating with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London, NHS Lothian and Imperial College London. 

OpenEP|NET aims to create a national database to enable improved management and outcomes for patients with conditions like atrial fibrillation (AF), which is the most common heart rhythm disorder. AF significantly raises the risk of stroke, heart failure, dementia, and premature death.  

Cardiac electrophysiology focuses on the study and treatment of heart rhythm disorders like AF, but despite the vast amounts of data collected during patient treatments, this information has not been systematically used to guide patient management. As a result, cardiology, and specifically electrophysiology, lacks digital approaches for therapy guidance, with the absence of effective data handling tools a critical barrier. 

Current treatments for AF include ablation, which is an invasive and expensive procedure, that causes a small amount of scarring on the heart to break up the electrical signals that cause irregular heartbeat. Prescription medication can have side effects or be ineffective. Better understanding of AF and related conditions could lead to improved treatments. 

Professor Steven Niederer, Chair of Biomedical Engineering at NHLI, is part of the technical team working on OpenEP|NET. Speaking about the funding announcement, he said, “This additional funding from the MRC will support our efforts to build a dataset of detailed heart measurements from thousands of patients. This vital information can then be used to improve treatments for conditions like atrial fibrillation, which affects over 1.5 million people in the UK alone.”