Rebecca Graham looks at a new exhibition at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences designed to educate the public about heart health and disease.
Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of premature death and disability in Ireland. Nearly 9,000 people die of the disease each year, and it is estimated that 80pc of these deaths are preventable.
A new exhibition at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences hopes to educate the public about heart health and disease, and showcases the latest technologies for diagnosis and treatment of heart conditions.
‘Heart: more than a beat’ is the first exhibition at the Humanarium, a recently opened space in RCSI’s new research and education building on St Stephen’s Green in Dublin city centre. The space will host a rolling programme of events exploring health sciences and medical research.
Opening the exhibition today (10 February), the director of the Humanarium, Dr Alison Boyle said that the aim is to show “the science and stories behind every heartbeat”. She welcomed to the podium Ciarán Sloan, father of toddler James who underwent major heart surgery at just 10 months old. At the 20-week pregnancy scan, Sloan and his partner Cara McAreavey learned that James had serious heart abnormalities. Since then, the family have had a long journey of treatment and recovery.
Human side of heart research
The exhibition shows a 3D-printed model of a human heart which consultant surgeon Mr Jonathan McGuiness used to prepare for James’s surgery at Crumlin Hospital. Sloan described McGuiness as a hero to their family for his work with James. He also said the exhibition could be really helpful to parents in similar situations to themselves. “It’s not [just] medical, it shows the human side,” he said.
James’s mom Cara McAreavey talked to me about the family’s journey. She described being “blindsided” by the initial diagnosis, but later feeling so grateful that James could be operated on.
She recalled how the family, who travelled from Belfast to Crumlin for the surgery, were on the ward prepped for surgery twice only for it to be cancelled at the last minute to make way for emergencies. Though this was tough, she said they were warned this could happen by the medical team and felt grateful that James wasn’t an emergency case. She spoke with obvious pride about James’s recovery, describing him as incredibly resilient. I asked about her own feelings in all this and she said her attitude is that you either sink or swim, and she chose to swim.
As we spoke, three-year-old James was happily playing with his dad in the exhibition space, looking healthy and full of energy – the perfect embodiment of what this event is all about and why research into cardiovascular conditions is so important.
Cutting-edge research
Senior anatomy lecturer at RCSI, Dr Aamir Hameed spoke to me at the event about his heart device research. Hameed recently won funding under Research Ireland’s Frontier for the Future programme to develop mechanical heart support devices for small children.
Hameed is co-founder of Pumpinheart, an RCSI spin-out that has prototyped a device to treat advanced heart failure, which features in the exhibition. Hameed explained that when patients have diastolic heart failure, the heart muscles become stiff, preventing the left ventricle from filling properly, which reduces blood flow to the body and causes fluid buildup. He showed me the implantable pump that his team has developed to reduce pressure in the left ventricle and improve blood flow.
This device is at the very early stages of development. Pumpinheart raised €700,000 in seed funding and is now hoping to raise €2.5m to move to preclinical studies. Hameed said that the device provides a validated solution for a proven unmet clinical need, but funding is always a challenge, and they are looking to the US for investment. He hopes to be in a position to move to human trials in two years.
Hameed is also developing biosensors to work with the pump device. The idea is that sensors would provide data about the device to help prevent issues and reduce re-hospitalisations. He said that recently one of his students asked what would happen if a patient forgot to charge the device and this simple issue is one that a sensor could help prevent by causing an alert for low power.
I asked Hameed how he finds time for the research and teaching alongside the start-up and he laughed and said: “It isn’t easy … but it’s my passion.”
Keeping your heart healthy
A report from the National Office of Clinical Audit, as reported by RTÉ today, found that the number of people who called emergency services within an hour of experiencing heart attack symptoms was down last year compared to the previous year, leading to calls for renewed focus on public awareness of early signs of heart attack.
I asked Hameed about this and he said that commonly people think they can’t be having a heart attack because of preconceived notions of what a sufferer should look like, and this is particularly a problem with younger patients. He said the exhibition is helpful is teaching people about heart health. He thinks more needs to be done to help the public recognise a heart attack and to take steps to protect their heart health.
Journalist Maura Derrane, an ambassador for the Irish Heart Foundation, spoke at the event and encouraged people to get information about heart health from trusted sources and not from social media. She spoke about how women in particular can often ignore symptoms and that these can also be masked by menopause. She said, for example, she is more proactive about getting her cholesterol checked regularly since she turned 50. “We need to take personal responsibility for our health.”
For more information about the exhibition, visit the Humanarium website. The Humanarium is funded by Blackrock Health, AIB, Lanas and HSE Healthy Ireland.
Rebecca Graham is a Frontiers science journalism fellow at FutureNeuro Research Ireland Centre for Translational Brain Science in RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. Frontiers is a science journalism initiative funded by the European Research Council. Rebecca is a former managing editor at Silicon Republic.
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