World-leading research on increasing heart efficiency to improve right-heart failure

Published: 23 September 2024

A researcher at the forefront of cardiac energetics globally, Dr JC Han at the University of Auckland, has been awarded a Senior Fellowship from the Heart Foundation to investigate improving heart efficiency.

Dr June-Chiew (JC) Han will be researching the energy of the heart and testing three medications that could help increase heart efficiency and potentially improve and even prevent right-heart failure. The rationale is that by using energy more efficiently it leads to better performance of the heart.

Cutting-edge experimental equipment built by JC and his colleagues at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, which is unique globally, will allow them to measure energy generated from heart tissue samples.

Like a race car mechanic, JC wants to improve engine efficiency, except the engine he’s fine-tuning is the heart. The heart uses energy and produces energy, and if energy efficiency is disrupted it can ultimately lead to heart failure. Improving ‘engine efficiency’ goes beyond simply fixing the ‘mechanical systems’ through heart surgery.

“The importance of efficiency is often overlooked in terms of understanding heart failure,” explains JC. “This research will investigate medications that may be able to not only slow right-heart deterioration, but actually improve right-heart efficiency.”

He is investigating three synergetic treatments for right heart failure and applying them to heart tissue samples to measure changes. The hope is they will work better together to achieve a bigger effect.

Timely, urgent and necessary research

This is highly topical research that addresses the urgent need for improved treatment options. Currently there are limited options for treating patients with right heart failure. 

Often called ‘the forgotten ventricle’, the right ventricle is one of the heart’s four chambers and it pumps blood to the lungs for fresh oxygen. Severe lung diseases and other conditions can lead to high blood pressure on the right side, called pulmonary hypertension, which may affect the right ventricle and lead to right heart failure.

Right heart failure – when the right heart muscle isn’t working as efficiently as it should – is more common in New Zealand than the worldwide average. This is partly due to the higher rate of rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease, as well as the higher prevalence of pulmonary hypertension.

“We already have data showing impaired heart efficiency in right heart failure. My goal now is to improve this to benefit patients with right heart failure,” says JC.

Dr Gerry Devlin, Heart Foundation Medical Director explains, “The idea to improve heart muscle efficiency to address heart failure is innovative.”

“Insights from this pivotal research could be relevant locally and internationally in reducing the prevalence and socioeconomic burden of right-ventricular diseases and heart failure.”