Patients suffering from irregular heartbeats have gained new hope for life thanks to a pioneering form of radiation therapy typically used to treat cancer. The procedure involves high-energy X-rays, called photons, directed at a specific area of the heart to restore normal rhythm. While this may seem risky, early studies suggest it is highly effective in patients who have not responded to any other treatments, leading to at least a 90% improvement in symptoms.
Professor Mark O'Neill described the results as astonishing, stating, "It is rare to see such an outcome; we are incredibly optimistic." The treatment, known as stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, delivers intense doses of radiation to a small area within the body, minimizing damage to surrounding tissues, making it ideal for treating tumors in hard-to-reach areas of the lungs and liver.
Typically, doctors providing radiation therapy for cancer strive to avoid accidentally targeting the heart, marking this the first time the heart has been deliberately targeted. In the case of ventricular tachycardia, the arrhythmia affects the lower chambers of the heart, the ventricles, which pump blood out of the organ and around the body. When this occurs, the heart chambers do not have enough time to refill properly, resulting in inadequate blood being pumped.
Symptoms include palpitations, dizziness, chest pain, shortness of breath, and loss of consciousness. In some cases, it can lead to ventricular fibrillation—extremely fast and irregular heartbeats reaching 300 or more per minute—which can result in fatal cardiac arrest.
So far, this treatment has been tested on only 13 individuals in the UK—and fewer than 200 people worldwide—suffering from ventricular tachycardia, a dangerously fast heartbeat, who have all failed to respond to any other treatment. Experts hope this breakthrough will open doors to offering the treatment to more patients facing a variety of heart rhythm issues, according to the British newspaper Daily Mail.
