Electrophysiology Procedures are used to assess your heart's electrical system and evaluate for abnormal heartbeats or arrhythmia. With these procedures, catheters with attached wire electrodes are inserted through the blood vessels. These will measure the rhythm of your heartbeat.
With today's technology, the cardiologists are able to implant pacemakers for patients with slow rhythms and implantable defibrillators for patients at risk for fast dangerous rhythms such as ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation. If one of these events occur, these devices can provide the patient time to reach their physician or the hospital to have the causal condition corrected.
Many patients have fast rhythms that are bothersome or that may be correcting and many are treated with catheter-based radio-frequency or microwaves to burn or ablate the tissue causing the arrhythmias and can be curative.
Atrial Fibrillation is often seen in the elderly population where these is more of a stroke risk. A lot of research has focused on managing this prevalent condition, including medication, pacemakers, microwave ablation and most recently Left Atrial Appendage Closure with a device called Watchman.
Watchman does not convert the atrial fibrillation to a normal rhythm, it addresses the stroke risk, lowering it significantly and allowing the patient to eventually take a baby aspirin daily. The patient would still take antiarrhythmic medications for the atrial fibrillation.
Next-Generation Ablation with FARAPULSE™
FARAPULSE™ Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) is our newest, non-thermal ablation technology. Instead of using heat or cold, it delivers short electrical pulses to precisely target problem areas while minimizing risk to nearby structures. Our team carefully evaluates each patient to determine whether PFA or another therapy offers the best outcome.
Disclaimer:
The FARAWAVE catheter is intended for the isolation of the pulmonary veins in the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and the isolation of the pulmonary veins and posterior wall in the treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation (lasting less than one year) by rendering targeted cardiac tissue electrically non-conductive to prevent cardiac arrhythmia initiation or maintenance. With all medical procedures there are risks associated with the use of the device. The risks include but are not limited to pain or discomfort, electric shock, hypotension, infection/inflammation, allergic reaction, anesthesia risk, radiation injury/tissue burn, heart failure, renal failure, respiratory distress, arrhythmia, nerve injury (such as phrenic nerve or vagal nerve), gastrointestinal disorders, vessel trauma, cardiac trauma (such as perforation), injury related to adjacent structures (esophageal injury, atrio-esophageal fistula, pulmonary injury), pulmonary vein stenosis, surgical and access complications, muscle spasm, injury due to blood clot or air bubbles in the lungs or other organs, heart attack, TIA, stroke, and/or damage to red blood cells. In rare cases, cardiac arrest or death may occur. Be sure to talk with your doctor so that you thoroughly understand all of the risks and benefits associated with the procedure and use of the device.