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A £1.8m clinical trial has been launched to aid heart patients through the use of tiny defibrillators.

The devices will be fitted under the patient's skin, with the aim of reducing deaths from sudden cardiac arrests.

Researchers believe those with scarring on the heart could be more at risk of abnormal heart rhythms and so could benefit from the defibrillators.

The trial, which will involve 2,500 patients, is currently open at five hospitals, including in Southampton and Portsmouth.

Phil O'Donoghue, from Chandler's Ford, Hampshire, has been fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) as the first patient to take part in the study.

ICDs are small devices that are routinely fitted in the chests of patients with heart failure, and they can stop abnormal rhythms and treat cardiac arrest by delivering an electric shock to the heart.

However, trial researchers say that currently some people are being fitted with the devices unnecessarily.

Mr O'Donoghue, 53, who suffers from non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM), was first diagnosed with heart failure in May 2020.

He said: "I was rushed into hospital and tests showed my heart's ejection rate was down to 24% which meant blood was not being pumped around my body properly.

"I was told there was a trial about to start and that I fitted what they were looking for."

Dr Andrew Flett, the chief investigator for the trial from University Hospital Southampton, said he wanted to find "a better way" to assess the suitability of patients for these devices.

He said: "The current guidelines look at how well the heart is pumping to decide which patients should get a defibrillator.

"But for many patients who go through the procedure of having a defibrillator fitted, they will never actually see the device triggered and may not need it."

The trial will be the first to look at whether the presence of scar tissue can predict who should be fitted with an ICD.

Professor Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "...it is important that we continue to establish exactly which patients need them [ICDs] so that people who are unlikely to benefit do not have to undergo invasive procedures unnecessarily."

The trial is also running in hospitals in Aberdeen, East Kent and Barts in London, with a further 30 sites to open in the coming months.

The study is being funded by the British Heart Foundation and run by the NIHR Southampton Clinical Trials Unit.