Explore more about: Heart Disease

Abnormal heart rhythms—cardiac arrhythmias—are a major worldwide health problem. Now scientists are using ultrasound for more accurate maps of arrhythmic sites in the heart for improved success of ablation procedures.

Every year thousands of Americans, mostly over age 75, require replacement of their aortic valve. Now 3D printed patient-specific models of the aorta can aid presurgical planning and improve outcomes of minimally invasive valve replacement.

Researchers have developed a groundbreaking process for multi-material 3D printing of lifelike models of the heart's aortic valve and the surrounding structures that mimic the exact look and feel of a real patient.

In a groundbreaking new study, researchers have 3D printed a functioning centimeter-scale human heart pump in the lab. The discovery could have major implications for studying heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States killing more than 600,000 people a year.

Researchers are working on an entirely new way to detect blood clots, especially in pediatric patients.

Researchers have used an ultrasound technique they pioneered a decade ago -- electromechanical wave imaging (EWI) -- to accurately localize atrial and ventricular cardiac arrhythmias in adult patients in a double-blinded clinical study. They evaluated the accuracy of EWI for localization of various arrhythmias in all four chambers of the heart prior to catheter ablation: the results showed that EWI correctly predicted 96% of arrhythmia locations as compared with 71% for 12-lead ECGs.

Doctors need better ways to detect and monitor heart disease, the leading cause of death in industrialized countries. Researchers with support from NIBIB has developed an improved optical imaging technique that found differences between potentially life-threatening coronary plaques and those posing less imminent danger for patients with coronary artery disease.

NIBIB-funded engineers are designing aortic heart valve replacements made of polymers rather than animal heart tissues. The goal is to optimize valve performance and enable increased use of a minimally-invasive method for valve replacement over open heart surgery.

Scientists report developing injectable gels to prevent heart failure caused when the heart's walls thin out, the organ becomes enlarged, and scar tissue forms.

Scientists have discovered a new class of molecular tags that enhance MRI signals by 10,000-fold and generate detectable signals that last over an hour.