To fix a patient’s irregular heartbeat, doctors first tested its digital ‘twin’

his image from video provided by Johns Hopkins University in March 2026 shows a digital twin of a heart belonging to a patient with an irregular heartbeat being used to simulate treatment approaches. (Johns Hopkins University via AP) 2026-04-01T21:01:53Z WASHINGTON (AP) — Scientists created virtual replicas of patients’ diseased hearts so precise that blocking a dangerous irregular heartbeat in these digital “twins” showed doctors how to better treat the real thing.

One of the first clinical trials of these custom models suggests it might improve care for ventricular tachycardia , a notoriously difficult-to-treat arrhythmia that is a major cause of sudden cardiac arrest, blamed for about 300,000 U.S. deaths a year.

The study, by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, was a small first step.

The Food and Drug Administration allowed the digital twin technology to guide treatment for just 10 patients, and much larger studies will be needed.

But the results reported Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine come as doctors increasingly are exploring how a technology long used in aerospace and other industries might be harnessed for better health, too.

Dr.

Jeffrey Goldberger, a heart specialist at the University of Miami who wasn’t involved with the study, experimented with more rudimentary iterations 15 years ago and praised the new findings. “This is what we envisioned,” he said.

Doctors have long used 3D models, both physical and computer-generated ones, to simulate disease and practice techniques.

But Hopkins biomedical engineer Natalia Trayanova said true digital twins predict how a real organ can react to different treatments.

Her lab is pioneering colorful interactive models developed with an advanced MRI scan and other data from each patient. “We treat the twin before we treat the patient,” Trayanova said. “Did it work?

And if it did, are there new things that arise” that will require more or different care?

The heart’s electrical system powers our heartbeat.

Ventricular tachycardia is a super-fast heartbeat triggered when an electrical wave short-circuits in the organ’s bottom chambers, the ventricles, and prevents them from pumping blood out to the body. “You see this heart that is basically quivering,” Trayanova said.

Medication can help but the main treatment is ablation, when doctors thread catheters to the heart to burn misfiring tissue.

But it’s a bit trial-and-error, as patients spend hours under anesthesia while doctors d

原文链接: AP News