Search Results for: CARDIOMYOPATHY

Nurturing hope: Understanding Dilated Cardiomyopathy and transforming heart failure prospects

As the leading cause of heart failure in young individuals, dilated cardiomyopathy presents a unique set of challenges and implications. It is an intrinsic heart muscle disease that is the most common reason for needing a heart transplant. The origins of this condition are diverse, spanning genetic predispositions, external triggers that subject the heart to undue stress, or often, a combination of both. Dr Brian Halliday, a Clinical Senior Lecturer and British Heart Foundation Intermediate Fellow at the National Heart and Lung Institute sheds light on this disease and how medical advancements have enabled some patients to go into remission.


Heart failure can be a devastating diagnosis. The prognosis has been shown to be worse than many of the most common cancers. The words themselves often create a sense of doom for patients.

Dilated cardiomyopathy is the most common cause of heart failure in young people and the most common reason to need a heart transplant. It is an intrinsic heart muscle problem where the heart becomes baggy and weak. It may be due to genetic susceptibility, extrinsic acquired triggers that put the heart under stress, or a combination of the two. At the National Heart and Lung Institute, we have a particular interest in dilated cardiomyopathy.

The heart of a patient with dilated cardiomyopathy
The same patient’s heart after undergoing remission

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Getting to the Heart of the Matter: Sex Differences in Cardiomyopathy

Artwork by Mengmeng Tu, MSc Science Communication student

This festive period, Three Wise Women from the Faculty of Medicine will be giving us the gift of wisdom.

Could variation in the architecture of men and women’s hearts explain why their risk of cardiomyopathy differs? Dr Paz Tayal, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Cardiology at the National Heart and Lung Institute is investigating this with the aim of improving outcomes for patients affected by this disease of the heart muscle. Dr Tayal also discusses the ‘juggle struggle’ of balancing work and family life, and the importance of truth telling in academic medicine.


As winter sets in, I start to pack away the summer dresses and bring out the woolly jumpers and sturdy boots. When I do this, I will not be going into my husband’s closet to find things that fit me, nor indeed will I be wearing his shoes.

That seems obvious right, because we are different sizes.

We don’t think twice about that, yet in medicine, we are only just beginning to realise that male and female patients might need to have tailored ways to diagnose and treat disease.

Even in health, male and female hearts are not the same. At birth, the hearts of male and female babies are about the same size. However, at puberty, male hearts have a faster period of growth compared to female hearts. Whilst this eventually settles down, throughout adult life the mismatch persists, and the female heart remains smaller.

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Cracking the genetic code of cardiomyopathy in Egyptians

In the post, PhD student Mona Allouba, calls for a better understanding of the genetics of Egyptians in a bid for personalised treatments for cardiomyopathy patients


Over the past decade, several institutions in Egypt have been making huge scientific progress that is steadily reaching worldwide recognition. It is under these circumstances that I have been fortunate to join the Magdi Yacoub Foundation (MYF), which is recognised as one of Egypt’s most prominent charity organisations. The Aswan Heart Centre – located along the banks of the Nile in Aswan – is an integral part of MYF, offering state-of-the-art medical services for the underprivileged. It focuses on expanding the research on heart disease across the Middle East and beyond to contribute to the world’s scientific knowledge. (more…)

How we completed our BSc research projects remotely

Three medical students reflect on how they navigated and completed their intercalated BSc research projects remotely amid the pandemic.


Ioannis Panselinas, BSc Translational Respiratory Medicine

Had someone told me back at the start of 2020 what the year would have in store, I would have probably said that they had stolen ideas from an Orwellian dystopia. Yet the world is currently in the grips of one of the most terrible pandemics in living memory. And among all the global disruption were us 4th year Imperial medics having to face a transition to remote working in the middle of project period. Unsurprisingly, lab work cannot be done from the comfort of our homes. So, as COVID-19 hit the UK, we were forced to cut short our experiments and were ultimately left with a looming deadline and a project to complete.  In retrospect, I think I can sum up my experience with the 5 stages of COVID disruption:

Denial, Bargaining, Panic, Depression, Acceptance. (more…)

Bringing patients together to tackle heart disease – the Heart Hive

Many researchers study a particular disease because they have a personal connection to someone who has been affected. For researcher Dr Nicky Whiffin, it happened in reverse.


I had been researching cardiomyopathies (diseases that affect the heart muscle) for a couple of years when my mum suddenly became very ill. Even walking up the stairs was a struggle, she had to pause halfway to catch her breath. Having just been through a very tough patch at work, it was put down to stress. I remember clearly what should have been an amazing trip to Paris in March 2016 to see England’s rugby team win the six nations grand slam – instead the trip was dominated by us all worrying about my mum’s illness. (more…)

Big hearts and giant genes: What lies at the end of the yellow brick road?

Upasana Tayal was shortlisted for the MRC Max Perutz Science Writing Competition 2017 for the following article on her research into a heartbreaking disease called dilated cardiomyopathy.


“Hearts will never be practical until they can be made unbreakable”, said the Wizard of Oz. “But I still want one”, replied the Tin Woodsman.

Your heart makes you human, makes you love, and keeps you alive. In just one year, it will beat 40 million times, without rest or time off for good behaviour. A pretty impressive piece of machinery you might agree, no wonder the Tin Man wanted one so much.

And like many things in life, he may have wished for a big heart at the end of the yellow brick road. (more…)

Understanding our achy breaky hearts

Takotsubo syndrome

PhD student Liam Couch unravels the science behind breaking heart syndrome and explains how his research is helping to understand the unknowns of this condition. 


Broken heart syndrome, officially known as takotsubo syndrome, is an acute type of heart failure, where the bottom of the heart stops beating in situations of extreme stress. A condition predominantly affecting post-menopausal women, it has been dubbed broken heart syndrome owing to the frequent occurrence during bereavement after the loss of a loved one. However, this is just one example of the various circumstances in which takotsubo syndrome can occur. Indeed, any stressful event can lead to a surge in adrenaline which can result in takotsubo syndrome. This could be physical or emotional, and includes trauma such as car accidents, drug abuse, and even happy events such as weddings! (more…)