Melbourne Hospital doctors carry out study into genetic cause of atrial fibrillation

[doodle68]

Quote Australian newspaper the Herald and Sun.

''MELBOURNE doctors are carrying out a world-first study to try to defuse the “ticking time bomb” of the most common heart rhythm disorder.

Their world-first study of the role of a gene in predisposing people to atrial fibrillation aims to detect or even predict the condition’s occurrence.

Those whose condition is undetected are unwittingly at risk of heart attack and stroke.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital’s director of cardiac electrophysiology, Professor Jon Kalman, said the condition was linked to high blood pressure, heart disease, thyroid problems and obesity.

But in many patients its cause was unknown.''

heraldsun.com.au/news/victo...

[Finvola]

Very interesting doodle - thank you for posting this. If a gene can be identified eventually, then not only prediction and detection but repair may be possible in the future.

BTW, the link seems to be by subscription?

[doodle68 in reply to Finvola]

Hi Finvola the link isn't subscription but it seems the page can be accessed by a person only once.

For anyone wanting to read the article, putting the following into Google should bring up the page containing a link to the article..

''Royal Melbourne Hospital doctors carry out study into genetic cause

Herald Sun-7 Aug 2017 ''

[momist in reply to doodle68]

Yes, I hit a paywall as well, even using the Google trick.

[Hidden]

I just get a subscription page, can't see article unfortunately.

[doodle68]

Try this video...

youtu.be/VVVuiUQd0X8(Not working as expected?)

[momist in reply to doodle68]

doodle68 No video appears in your post for me, I'll try the Google trick. (Linux Mint / Firefox)

Edit: The video came up after a few minutes!

[Redhead1949]

I'm glad they are doing this as my mother had a pacemaker, we never knew why. But she lived to be 81. I have A-Fib permanent now, a leaky valve, one side of heart enlarged. My sisters (2 of them) now have A-Fib on and off. So I am believing that it is genetics that can run in families. Hopefully, some day they will find a cure for us A-Fibbers! Thanks for the article.

[Hidden]

Many thanks for that reference doodle68.

I'll spend some time over the weekend trying various tricks to access the article.

[secondtry]

Thanks Doodle, I have a genetic disorder known as Factor V Leiden, which causes your blood to clot more easily. Evidently, it is quite common (15% of the population - I seem to recall was quoted), most people who have it don't know until they hit a problem like I did with a leg clot after a long car journey. Wonder if that has any relevance to AF??