--- title: Heart Health: Virtual Hearts Tell Who Might Face Sudden Cardiac Death description: Computer generated hearts are being used to improve diagnosis of a person’s risk of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS). canonical: https://time.com/3691848/virtual-heart-sudden-cardiac-death-victor-chang/ author: Sabrina Toppa article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-02T09:25:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T08:10:06.266Z article:section: Health og:title: Virtual Hearts Identify Cardiac Risk og:description: They make better predictions of sudden caridac death than real hearts og:url: https://time.com/3691848/virtual-heart-sudden-cardiac-death-victor-chang/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48a6249a3292e937/69877d1dcd6848d17209977f/152084903.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 152084903 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Virtual Hearts Identify Cardiac Risk twitter:description: They make better predictions of sudden caridac death than real hearts twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48a6249a3292e937/69877d1dcd6848d17209977f/152084903.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Virtual Hearts Can Help Show Who Is at Risk From Sudden Cardiac Death by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Feb 2, 2015 9:25 AM CUT  Heart Rate Line Heart Rate LineGetty Images by [Sabrina Toppa](/author/sabrina-toppa/) ## Sabrina Toppa Feb 2, 2015 9:25 AM CUT Virtual hearts are now being [used](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26890-virtual-hearts-get-to-the-crux-of-sudden-cardiac-death.html#.VM8aGVpLfWG "undefined") to improve predictions of a person’s risk of sudden arrhythmic death syndrome (SADS), or sudden death from cardiac failure. The syndrome is often linked to genetic factors. Using supercomputers, scientists in Sydney’s Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute are creating genetically customized “virtual hearts” to generate predictive data on who is most likely to face SADS, which is implicated in 1.3 deaths in every 100,000 people, according to the _New Scientist_. Those with the genetic mutation most likely to develop SADS possess distinctive bumps, or notched T-waves, in their ECG readouts. Virtual heart monitoring, over thousands and thousands of beats, has already allowed scientists to conclusively show that those with the most extreme T-waves are at the highest risk of dying. Read more at [_New Scientist._](http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn26890-virtual-hearts-get-to-the-crux-of-sudden-cardiac-death.html#.VM8Q1lpLfWF "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3691848/virtual-heart-sudden-cardiac-death-victor-chang/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3691848/virtual-heart-sudden-cardiac-death-victor-chang/"},"headline":"Virtual Hearts Can Help Show Who Is at Risk From Sudden Cardiac Death","datePublished":"2015-02-02T09:25:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T08:10:06.266Z","description":"Virtual hearts may make better predictions than real ones","url":"https://time.com/3691848/virtual-heart-sudden-cardiac-death-victor-chang/","keywords":["Heart Disease","Australia","Technology","sydney"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48a6249a3292e937/69877d1dcd6848d17209977f/152084903.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sabrina Toppa","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/sabrina-toppa/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt48a6249a3292e937/69877d1dcd6848d17209977f/152084903.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"152084903","caption":"152084903","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/heart-disease/","name":"Heart Disease"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3691848/virtual-heart-sudden-cardiac-death-victor-chang/","name":"Virtual Hearts Can Help Show Who Is at Risk From Sudden Cardiac Death"}}]}] ```