SAVE-COR

Increasing heart arrhythmia treatment efficacy

The challenge

Arrhythmia, known as cardiac arrhythmia or heart arrhythmia, is a group of conditions in which a person’s heartbeat is irregular. It is estimated that 17.9 million people will suffer with atrial fibrillation, the most common type of arrthymia, in Europe by 2060.[1]

Cardiac arrhythmias shorten patients’ life expectancy, reduce their quality of life and can require the continuous use of medication or the need to undergo multiple interventions.[2][3] For these reasons, cardiac arrhythmia treatment is resource heavy and places a burden on healthcare systems.

The Strategic Research Agenda for Cardiovascular Diseases considers the improvement of the cardiac arrhythmias treatment a priority area due to limitations of existent therapeutic strategies.[4] One of the main problems is the low efficacy of anti-arrhythmic treatments.

Interventions such as cardiac ablation have a low success rate: more than 50% of patients cannot be cured even after several surgeries.[5] The main reason for the low treatment efficacy is the lack of tools to identify the cardiac region where the arrhythmia originates in each patient.

The solution

The SAVE-COR project will introduce a new solution to identify the cardiac region where a patient’s arrhythmia originates. SAVE-COR stands for the stratification of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias based on electrocardiographic imaging.

SAVE-COR’s solution, ACORYS®, is a medical device which combines software (innovative 3D image processing technology) and hardware (a high-density set of 128 electrodes). The device non-invasively creates a detailed map of cardiac activity and identifies the origin of the arrhythmia.

ACORYS® is designed to help the clinicians through the entire patient journey, from diagnosis to a personalised treatment plan. The solution aims to increase ablation arrhythmia treatment efficacy and reduce mean arrhythmia treatment costs.

The device uses real-time global mapping in order to generate cardiac maps more quickly than traditional point-by-point catheter mapping methods. ACORYS® does not require any additional specialised equipment, for example, medical imaging devices. This makes it suitable for being used during routine consultations.

Expected impact

The SAVE-COR team plan to validate their device in four clinical studies involving more than 3000 arrhythmia patients at hospitals of Germany, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Their objective is to obtain a CE mark, enter the market and become a recommended solution within the European arrhythmia management guidelines.

SAVE-COR’s solution aims to increase the efficacy rate of arrhythmia catheter ablation. This will improve patient outcomes and boost quality of life for citizens affected by arrhythmia. By improving treatment efficacy, this project aims to reduce the need for arrhythmia patients to under multiple interventions. This in turn would help to reduce the burden that arrhythmia treatment places on healthcare systems in Europe.

External partners

• Corify Care, S.L
• Arrhythmia Alliance 

References

[1] Lippi, G., Sanchis-Gomar, F., Cervellin, G. (2021). Global epidemiology of atrial fibrillation: An increasing epidemic and public health challenge. International Journal of Stroke, 16(2), 217-221.

[2] European Heart Rhythm Association. (2010). Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation. European Heart Journal, 31, 2369-2429.

[3] Kirchhof, P. et al. (2016) .ESC Guidelines for the management of atrial fibrillation developed in collaboration with EACTS. European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 50, 1-88.

[4] Era-cvd.eu. 2022. [online] Available at: <https://www.era-cvd.eu/media/content/ERA-CVD_SRA_05-2019.pdf> [Accessed 25 March 2022].

[5] Mujovic, N. et al. (2017). Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: An Overview for Clinicians. Advances in Therapy, 34(8), 1897–1917.