Dr Hui-Chen Han explains heart rhythm disorders
Meet Dr Hui-Chen Han, a cardiologist and researcher at the Victorian Heart Hospital and Monash Victorian Heart Institute.
Hui-Chen’s sub-speciality is electrophysiology, he’s an expert at diagnosing and treating problems with the heart’s electrical system. These are known as heart rhythm disorders.
Can you explain your area of expertise and the work you do?
The work I do is a mixture of clinical work, research and education.
I run clinics where we see patients who have various heart rhythm issues, or arrythmias. These might be things like heart palpitations or atrial fibrillation. We also run clinics for patients who have cardiac devices like pacemakers and defibrillators.
I also undertake patient procedures, these can involve implanting the devices or fixing heart rhythm problems.
We do a procedure called an electrophysiology study and ablation where patients who have heart palpations - due to a funny electrical circuit in the heart - we try to localise that and correct it by breaking the electrical signal and resetting the rhythm.
How important is collaboration in solving heart rhythm disorders?
The advancements in heart rhythm disorders have come a long way over the last 50 years through a lot of research that has been generated in the field.
When we do research, we need everyone involved. We need clinicians involved who are at the coalface treating patients, treating these conditions, I do that for half the week, to then be able to translate that into a research question, to be able to sit down and devise a research project where we can study these issues at length and come up with solutions for patients, that’s really how the field has advanced over time.
Being in the Victorian Heart Hospital makes this even easier as everything is integrated, there’s floors where clinical work and academic work occurs simultaneously.
What are some of the biggest challenges in tackling heart rhythm disorders?
Whilst the field has advanced significantly, there is still a proportion of patients who may pass away unexpectedly from sudden cardiac death or cardiac arrest without a clear explanation.
To be able to try to solve that question or build in a process where we can give answers to patients and their families about what is happening is really important and something I’m looking to work on.
What needs to happen in the speciality of rhythm disorders to achieve improved health outcomes for all?
Sudden cardiac death is devastating, and to a certain extent from a rhythm disorder aspect it is somewhat rare so our patient base is small, building some collaborative networks both locally and internationally is paramount to us being able to solve some of these issues.
If we work collaboratively with other institutions and partners, we can accelerate our understanding of this condition. Continuing to build those relationships within the global networks that already exist in Monash University and Monash Health is key.
Can you share one thing you want people to know this Heart Week?
If you’re worried about something, get yourself checked.
If you’re having palpitations (feeling like your heart is racing, thumping, fluttering, pounding or skipping beats), if you’re worried about your family history, your GP is a great first point of contact - hopefully we don’t need to meet, but if we do we’ll look after you.