Department of Advanced Therapeutics for Cardiac Diseases

Heart diseases (cardiac disorders) include coronary artery disease, valvular disease, cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia, etc. This department conducts clinical research on arrhythmia.

Arrhythmia is a disease in which the pulse becomes abnormal, but its cause lies in the heart, and an abnormality in the heart's rhythm (tune) is called arrhythmia. There are various types of arrhythmia, such as a fast or slow pulse or skipped pulses, and "arrhythmia" is not a disease name but a general term for the pathology. There are various symptoms, such as palpitations that make the heart pound when the pulse speeds up, or fainting due to a slow pulse and a temporary decrease in cerebral blood flow, but there are also cases where there are no symptoms at all.

Recently, an arrhythmia called atrial fibrillation has been attracting attention. When the rate of beats in the atria of the heart increases irregularly, the pulse rate speeds up and slows down. In addition to symptoms such as palpitations and shortness of breath, blood clots can form in the atria and travel to the brain, causing cerebral infarction. Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common arrhythmias, but there are still many unknowns about it. In this course, we are conducting clinical research not only into the mechanism of atrial fibrillation, but also into predictive factors, prevention methods, and treatment methods.

In addition, as a treatment for arrhythmia, pacemakers are used when the pulse slows due to abnormalities in the conduction system. There is biventricular (left and right ventricle) pacing therapy, which applies pacemaker therapy to patients with heart failure, and this course also conducts research on the conduction system and pacing therapy.