People who’ve experienced atrial fibrillation, or A-fib, describe it as a fluttering, racing or pounding heartbeat that can leave them breathless. It’s the most common heart arrhythmia, and according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, about one in 22 Americans suffer from it.
When Tarleton State University Mathematics Professor Dr. Bryant Wyatt experienced A-fib a few years ago, he was fortunate to have an ally in the field of cardiac electrophysiology. His nephew, Brandon Wyatt, works for Biosense Webster, a medical technology company focused on diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, and he drew on his contacts to help his uncle find the right doctor for his care. Then Brandon made a request of his uncle.
Dr. Wyatt runs a high-performance computing lab in the Tarleton State math building that he started fifteen years ago with a grant from NVIDIA. It has become a hub for collaborative, award-winning research in astrophysics, engineering, biology, chemistry and mathematics.
“In the lab, we build and study simulations to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms behind complex phenomena,” he explained. “Brandon asked whether we could model cardiac arrhythmias, and it struck us as both a scientifically fascinating question and a deeply personal one.”
Now, with the help of a $464,502 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Wyatt and his students are harnessing the lab’s computational power and developing a research tool to study the underlying causes of atrial arrhythmias.
Irregular heart rhythms often lead to stroke, heart failure and sometimes heart attacks. A-fib happens when electrical signals in the upper part of the heart (specifically the left atrium) become irregular and change the timing of contractions that help move blood through the heart. It can increase a person’s risk of stroke by about five times.
“Nobody really gets it, because it’s a chaotic arrhythmia, and chaos is a really hard subject,” Dr. Wyatt said. It’s a mathematical topic that should be solved by mathematicians using advanced computer models and simulations, he added, to gain insight on what the mechanisms of A-fib are.”
Using scrubbed data from real patients at Baylor College of Medicine, Cook Children’s Hospital and the University of Houston, Dr. Wyatt’s computer simulation models those chaotic occurrences and allows students to interact with them, using simulated ablation tools to isolate and treat the irregular beats. They can try out methods they might have read about in medical journals without endangering any real lives. Collaboration with the College of Nursing once a semester allows nursing students to try their hand at treating simulated A-fib episodes.
Dr. Joe Priest, who teaches electrocardiography in the Division of Health Sciences, Department of Health and Human Physiology, said Dr. Wyatt’s mathematical model of the left atrium allows students a valuable inside view of one of the major problems in cardiac function.
“His team presentation allows my students to visually perform ‘ablation surgery’ to correct atrial fibrillation, the same procedure that destroys targeted tissue in the hospital operating room,” he said. “Students become engaged at a rare level as they make critical decisions without permanent consequences … the best learning experience. His interactive model makes very complex issues understandable.”
That interactivity and ability to try out different ideas for treating arrhythmias highlights the simulation model’s potential to be expanded as a medical training tool.
“There are only eight labs in the world that are doing heart simulations, and only three in the world that are doing interactive, so we’re one of the three,” Dr. Wyatt said. Since developing the simulation, he and students have attracted attention at conferences where they have spoken about it, putting Tarleton State right up there with renowned institutions like Johns Hopkins and MIT. They also present at industry conferences such as NVIDIA’s, students rubbing shoulders with industry experts and gaining valuable insights and speaking experience that will benefit them as they move forward into careers.
“Dr. Wyatt’s NIH grant is a testament to Tarleton State’s commitment to fostering a culture of excellence, high-impact research, and innovation focused on improving lives,” said Dr. Rupa Iyer, Tarleton State’s Vice President of Research Innovation and Economic Development.