The WorldCare Wire – Spring/Summer 2025
This edition of our quarterly e-newsletter highlights how a WorldCare medical second opinion (MSO) can help you take charge of your health and treatment decisions. Explore essential information on cardiac arrhythmias and discover the latest groundbreaking research from The WorldCare Consortium®.
For Your Health: Taking Charge of Your Care
Are you anxious about your current diagnosis and treatment plan? Are you finding it challenging to understand and advocate for changes? A WorldCare MSO can help.
A WorldCare MSO will provide you with an expert evaluation of your current diagnosis and guidance on the latest evidence-based treatment options. These valuable insights will equip you with the knowledge and confidence to actively participate in discussions about your diagnosis and make informed decisions about your treatment.
No matter where you live, WorldCare MSOs are provided remotely, saving you the time and expense associated with travel. WorldCare directs your case to experts at The WorldCare Consortium® — prestigious U.S. medical research and teaching institutions at the forefront of cutting-edge treatments and therapies – for a variety of serious and complex medical conditions.
Cardiac Arrhythmias
Each heartbeat starts from an electrical impulse on your heart, and sometimes these electrical impulses don’t work properly, causing cardiac arrhythmias and affecting how the heart muscle contracts and pumps blood. Arrhythmias are generally classified by the speed of heartrate they cause, as well as where they begin in the heart. A normal resting heart rate for most adults ranges between 60 and 100 beats per minute (BPM), and can be influenced by factors such as age, fitness level, and overall health. Tachycardia is when the heart beats too quickly – over 100 beats per minute (BPM) – and bradycardia is when the heart beats too slowly – under 60 BPM. A heart rate under 60 BPM isn’t always concerning; it may occur during deep sleep or in physically active adults (and athletes) due to their heart’s increased efficiency. Your healthcare provider can detect arrhythmias through a painless electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG) test.1
Severe bradycardia can lead to insufficient blood flow to the brain and can cause people to feel weak, dizzy, or lightheaded and tire easily during exercise. Prolonged bradycardia may lead to frequent fainting and heart failure.4
Some arrhythmias occur in the atria or the AV node, these are supraventricular arrhythmias, which include:
• Atrial fibrillation, also called AF or AFib, is caused by erratic and irregular electrical signals that start in the heart’s upper chambers (atria) and result in a quivering irregular heartbeat. It is the most common arrhythmia and can lead to blood clots, stroke, and heart failure.2
Ventricular arrhythmias begin in the lower chambers of the heart and can be life-threatening and require urgent
medical care.
• Ventricular fibrillation (Vfib) is marked by a rapid, irregular heartbeat that causes the ventricles to quiver instead of effectively pumping blood and can lead to sudden cardiac arrest without emergency medical attention.7
Conduction is how the electrical impulses responsible for your heartbeat travel through your heart. Heart conduction disorders, including the common ones below, can cause arrhythmias.
• Bundle branch block: Electrical impulses travel down the right and left bundle branches of the ventricles (lower chambers of the heart), usually at the same speed allowing both ventricles to contract at the same time. A block in one of the branches can slow the signal on that side, causing one ventricle to contact slightly later than the other, resulting in an abnormal heartbeat.
• Heart blocks are signaling delays between the heart’s upper and lower chambers (atria and ventricles). There are three types: first-, second-, and third-degree blocks, in order of severity. Third-degree, or complete, blocks are the most severe and typically require treatment with a temporary or permanent pacemaker.
• Long QT syndrome: The lower heart chambers take too long to contract and release in response to stress or exercise.5
1 American Heart Association. What is an Arrhythmia? Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/arrhythmia/about-arrhythmia
2 American Heart Association. What is Atrial Fibrillation? Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation/what-is-atrial-fibrillation-afib-or-af
3 American Heart Association. What is Atrial Flutter? Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/atrial-fibrillation/what-is-atrial-fibrillation-afib-or-af/atrial-flutter
4 American Heart Association. Bradycardia: Slow Heart Rate. Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/arrhythmia/about-arrhythmia/bradycardia–slow-heart-rate
5 American Heart Association. Heart Conduction Disorders. Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/arrhythmia/about-arrhythmia/conduction-disorders
6 American Heart Association. Tachycardia. Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/arrhythmia/about-arrhythmia/tachycardia–fast-heart-rate
7 American Heart Association. Ventricular Fibrillation. Accessed at https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/arrhythmia/about-arrhythmia/ventricular-fibrillation
The WorldCare Consortium® Research Update: A New, Minimally Invasive Treatment for AFib
An innovative new treatment for AFib, known as pulsed field ablation (PFA), earned approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration following clinical trials conducted at Northwestern Medicine and other centers.
Until recently, cardiac electrophysiologists have relied on two main nonsurgical techniques to treat AFib: radiofrequency ablation, which employs heat energy, and cryoballoon ablation, which uses freezing energy. Both create scar tissue to disrupt abnormal electrical signals in the heart.
PFA utilizes finely tuned electrical fields to precisely target and eliminate the tissue responsible for AFib through a minimally invasive procedure.
Clinical studies revealed that patients treated with PFA experienced better outcomes, fewer major complications, shorter procedure times, and greater freedom from AFib one year post-treatment compared to traditional ablation methods.
The WorldCare Consortium®
Research News:
Protein Discovery May Lead to New Treatment Strategies for Glioblastoma
Researchers at UCLA Health have discovered that endocan, a protein secreted by vascular endothelial cells (cells that make up the inner lining of blood vessels) in glioblastoma tumors, not only drives tumor growth but makes cancer cells resistant to common treatments like radiation.
Findings from their preclinical research, conducted in collaboration with colleagues from Harada Hospital in Japan, were published recently in Nature Communications.
Improving the effectiveness of glioblastoma treatments is vital to patient survival, as it is an aggressive and lethal type of brain cancer. Those diagnosed with glioblastoma often face a grim prognosis, with an average lifespan of 12 to 15 months and a five-year survival rate of just 5%.
This discovery suggests that targeting the endocan protein and its signaling pathway between glioblastoma cells and vascular endothelial cells could potentially slow tumor progression and enhance the effectiveness of existing treatments.
The WorldCare Consortium®
Research News:
A New Nasal Spray Shows Promising Potential for Treating MS
Foralumab is a new nasal spray that’s being studied for its potential to alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). It contains a protein engineered to mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off harmful cells.
MS is a neurological condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks and damages the protective layer surrounding nerve fibers in the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Over time, this damage can lead to significant physical and neurological impairments.
Promising early results from a recently concluded phase 1 clinical trial by Mass General Brigham researchers found that foralumab not only reduced fatigue and inflammation, but also improved physical function and the capacity to perform daily tasks in individuals with MS.
The study findings suggest that foralumab nasal spray could offer sustained symptom relief and protection against progressive MS-related damage.
Our Member MSO Experience
“We are proud to have pioneered life-changing, clinically rigorous expert medical second opinions. As the gold standard in MSOs, it is an honor to help our members on their journey to wellness as we celebrate our 30th anniversary.”
— Hassan S. Sharif, MD, FRCR
Chief Medical Officer and Chief Executive Officer
As a covered member, if you or a loved one is diagnosed with a serious and complex illness, contact WorldCare.
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