QMI and Barts Health raise funds for the clinical evaluation of the ValGo device to treat SVT
Inventors, Dr Johann Grundlingh and Dr Alicia Refson, both Emergency Medicine consultants, successfully secured seed funding to develop the ValGo device with the support of Queen Mary Innovation Ltd (QMI) and Barts Health NHS Trust. Following the development of the novel ValGo device it is anticipated there will be significant patient benefit in the treatment of supra ventricular tachycardia (SVT).
Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is seen in patients as an abnormally fast heart rhythm arising from improper electrical activity in the upper part of the heart. This results in the heart going from beating at a normal resting pulse of around 70 beats per minute to over 100 beats per minute (and up to around 200 beats per minute). This can be an unpleasant experience for the patient as they feel the heart suddenly beating very fast. This may also be accompanied by chest pain, dizziness, light-headedness and also possibly breathlessness. SVT is a fairly common heart rhythm disorder and thousands of people in the UK will have suffered SVT at some stage and is one of the most frequent causes of emergency department and physician office visits.
Dr Grundlingh and Dr Refson, QMI and Barts Health Trust successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the evaluation of the device in patients. In fact the fundraising was so successful the minimum target of £8,000 was exceeded by £2,400 and the funds totalled £10,400. These funds will enable the team to test the device in patients in a phase I clinical study.
