Faculty Feature

February 14, 2022

New study, “Heterogeneous repolarization creates ventricular tachycardia circuits in healed myocardial infarction scar,” published in Nature Communications 

Abnormal heart rhythms associated with heart attack scars are the leading cause of sudden death and one of the leading causes of all deaths, yet the underlying mechanism allowing these rhythms is unknown. The goal of the study was to identify the cause of these arrhythmias on a cellular level, so that investigators could ultimately use that information to develop an effective cure. Researchers in the Donahue laboratory, led by J. Kevin Donahue, MD, along with collaborators at the Heart and Vascular Research Center, MetroHealth Medical Center/Case Western Reserve University, found increases in two proteins associated with changes in the heart’s electrical function that explained the arrhythmias.

“With further development, these findings will help us identify people at risk for these abnormal heart rhythms and to fix this problem in people who have it,” said Dr. Donahue. Read full text.

Dr. Donahue is a clinician-researcher specializing in cardiac electrophysiology and the Director of Electrophysiology Research at UMass Memorial Health, and is a Professor of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School.