Research

Area 2

Arrhythmias and Cardiac Stimulation

Team manager
Josep Brugada
(Hospital Clínic)
JBRUGADA(ELIMINAR)@clinic.ub.es

Strategic objectives

The objectives for the coming year are essentially to continue developing the group’s four principal lines of research (conduction disorders, effect of exercise in an experimental model, atrial fibrillation and cardiac resynchronization) and consolidating the new line of research on ablation of ventricular tachycardia. Furthermore, we want to continue to potentiate multicenter projects that allow for more ambitious results with greater transcendency. At the same time we will continue to encourage practical clinical research aimed at continuing to improve our patient-care activity.

Main lines of research

1. Conduction disorders: We are continuing to recruit patients on the Brugada syndrome register and to analyze the value of electrophysical studies in prognosis. We also analyze the utility of ajmaline in diagnosing the disease. Furthermore, several genetic studies are in progress, in collaboration with Dr. Ramon Brugada of the university of Girona.

2. Resistance exercise model in rats: We intend to continue analyzing the mechanisms that condition the development of atrial and ventricular fibrosis in the model and, at the same time, to initiate a stable collaboration with Dr. Nattel at the Montreal Heart Institute in order to expand studies on the inducibility of arrhythmias in the model.

3. Atrial fibrillation (AF): We continue to study etiologic factors in primary atrial fibrillation, specifically the role of hypertension not detected during physical exercise. We have also started the SARA study (Spanish Atrial Fibrillation vis Antiarrhythmic Drugs). Comparative multicenter study of the efficacy of ablation vs drug treatment and different studies comparing different AF ablation techniques.

4. Cardiac resynchronization: This year saw the start of the SPARE II study to prospectively evaluate the result of resynchronization in patients with atrial fibrillation and we expect to initiate multicenter studies to evaluate the effect of optimization on the success of resynchronization. We are continuing to recruit patients for the ECHO-CRT study and we will start a study on the acute repercussions of resynchronization.