New Columbia Engineering Technique Diagnoses Non-Periodic Arrhythmias in a Single Heartbeat, Columbia University Study

Thanks to a new study from Columbia Engineering School, doctors may now be able to diagnose in their offices non-periodic arrhythmias - noninvasively and at low cost - within a single heartbeat. Non-periodic arrhythmias include atrial and ventricular fibrillation, which are associated with severely abnormal heart rhythm that can in some cases be life-threatening. Using Electromechanical Wave Imaging (EWI), a technique recently developed at Columbia Engineering, the researchers sent unfocused ultrasound waves through the closed chest and into the heart.