“Two whole adult human hearts, one healthy and one diseased, have been imaged in unprecedented detail by researchers from UCL and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), providing an invaluable resource for better understanding cardiovascular disease.

The study, published in Radiology, is an atlas of the human heart that captures the anatomical structure of the whole organ down to 20 micrometers—half the width of a human hair. In certain areas imaging has been done to the cellular level.

The atlas will facilitate previously impossible research into both healthy and diseased hearts, clarifying anatomical structures and connections within the organ, with potential applications ranging from improving the treatment for arrythmia to creating more lifelike models for surgical training.”

From Medical Xpress.