€1m team ready to fight abnormal heart rhythms

A €1m investment has brought together a team of specialists at an Irish hospital to tackle abnormal heart rhythms.

For some people, alcohol or marathon running can trigger the condition that is affecting a growing number of younger people — although it is mainly those over 60 who suffer.

More than 100,000 people in Ireland have atrial fibrillation. The new Atrial Fibrillation Institute will assess patients within one week of being referred. It has been set up within the Mater Private Hospital in Dublin and will be a ‘‘one stop shop’’.

“Sometimes there can be triggers for the condition like alcohol and sometimes endurance athletes such as marathon runners who stress themselves a lot can unfortunately develop it,” said Dr Gabor Szeplaki, head of cardiac electrophysiology and the clinical leader at the institute.

One of the reasons for the increase in patients is that people generally are living longer due to successes in preventing and treating other heart problems, he told the Sunday Independent.

Atrial fibrillation, known as AF, “will be a quite significant health problem” in Ireland in the coming years as one in four older adults may develop abnormal heart rhythms, he said.

AF, the most common form of irregular heartbeat, can result in a five times higher risk of stroke if left untreated. One treatment is a catheter ablation, an option if medication is not effective or tolerated.

The HSE describes this as a procedure which carefully destroys the diseased area of a heart and interrupts its abnormal electrical circuit.

Thin soft wires are guided through a vein into the heart where they record electrical activity.

When the abnormality is found, an energy source, such as high-frequency radiowaves that generate heat, is transmitted to destroy tissue.

More than 2,000 catheter ablations are done every year in Ireland and more than a third of those at the Mater Private Hospital.

The institute will see a 50pc increase in patients receiving treatment. It has Ireland’s biggest team of cardiac electrophysiology consultants and arrhythmia nurse specialists.

Although it is a private hospital, the hospital treats a number of public patients.