Dr Ariga, a cardiologist and NIHR Clinical Lecturer, is part of an Oxford team led by Professors Hugh Watkins and Stefan Neubauer. The team borrowed a brain imaging technique and applied it to the heart in order to identify signs of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which currently are only detectable post-mortem.
Dr Ariga, said:
“This is the first time that we’ve been able to assess disarray non-invasively in living patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. We’re hopeful that this new scan will improve the way we identify high-risk patients so that they can receive an implantable cardioverter defibrillator early to prevent sudden death.”