Inherited Cardiovascular Conditions (ICC) run in families, and are caused by an underlying genetic predisposition. They are estimated to affect about 1% of the population, or 600,000 people in the UK. They can affect people at any age, and may be life-threatening.
We are a specialist centre that cares for people affected by an ICC, and assessing family members who may be at risk. We are also leading a wide range of research projects to understand these conditions, develop new treatments, and improve the care of our patients. The ICC research programme is led by Dr James Ware and Dr Sanjay Prasad, and includes our cardiologists along with other clinicians and scientists, in partnership with Imperial College London.
Research areas include:
- Using cutting edge approaches (such as whole genome sequencing) to find genes that cause previously unexplained inherited conditions, with a particular focus on severe childhood cardiomyopathies (heart muscle diseases)
- Improving technologies for genetic testing, and for clinical genome interpretation
- Precision medicine - evaluating the use of genetics, new imaging techniques (particularly cardiac MRI), and other biomarkers to improve patient care, by predicting outcomes and treatment response, and selecting optimal therapies.
- Pioneering new treatments, including new drugs, gene therapies, and procedures in the catheter lab, operating theatre, or our state-of-the-art hybrid theatre.
Find out more information about our research on genetics on our active research studies page.