Yesterday, 1st April 2019, The Orkney News reported on the research being done at Strathclyde University with funding from Heart Research UK.
Today it is the turn of Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and the University of Glasgow. Their research aims to detect heart failure at an early stage has been awarded a grant of almost £150,000 by Heart Research UK.
The study, led by Dr Pierpaolo Pellicori, will investigate the incidence of heart failure and develop new methods to detect abnormal heart function at an early stage when treatment may prevent progression of the disease.
Using routinely-collected health records, Dr Pellicori’s group will investigate how many new cases of heart failure occurred in the West of Scotland over the last decade, and which risk factors and events, such as heart attacks, precede and predict it.
Dr Pellicori said:
“Heart failure is often only diagnosed when symptoms of breathlessness and fluid retention, known as congestion, become noticeable.
“By this time patients may need to be admitted straight to hospital and the prognosis is bleak. They have probably had abnormal heart function for many years and the best opportunity to intervene may have been missed.
“Our study will look at how many people at risk of developing heart failure already have congestion on ultrasound and investigate which simple, non-invasive tests can detect congestion and best predict patient outcome. “
The £148,865 grant was awarded as part of Heart Research UK’s annual awards for research into the prevention, treatment and cure of heart disease. In total, seven grants have been awarded by Heart Research UK in the latest grant round, three of them for projects in Scotland.
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