Breakthrough treatment for chronic atrial fibrillation cases
Patients suffering from atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart
rhythm, previously were forced to live with the disease when it
reached a chronic, persistent state. Now, a new hybrid ablation
procedure at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) brings two elite
teams of cardiac specialists together to improve the lives of
these patients.
Atrial fibrillation results
from electrical chaos in
the top chambers of the
heart (the atria) and has
symptoms that include
shortness of breath,
lightheadedness and
fatigue. Accompanying
these symptoms is a
five-fold increased risk
of stroke and higher
rates of congestive heart
failure and mortality.
Milder or infrequent
episodes can be treated
quite effectively with
medication or invasive
procedures.
a special ablation catheter through the skin under the breast
bone into the space around the outside of the heart. A thorough
ablation is performed of the posterior wall of the atrium where
most of the atrial fibrillation originates, which creates scar tissue
that blocks abnormal electrical signals in the heart.
To complete the
procedure, a cardiac
eletrophysiologist then
performs a minimally
invasive pulmonary vein
isolation, which involves
inserting smaller
catheters from the groin
into the heart. Areas
around the pulmonary
veins that the surgeon
cannot reach are then
cauterized and electrical
activity monitored until
no further electrical
activity is found.
AGH recently
constructed a specially
designed “hybrid”
As the disease
operating room to
William Belden, MD (left) and Robert Moraca, MD
progresses, however,
accommodate this new
increasingly frequent
procedure. It provides
and long-lasting episodes damage the heart, which leads to a
space for the two teams of specialists to treat each patient as
persistent state of atrial fibrillation in many patients. Treatments
part of a single procedure thus minimizing anesthesia time for
for this type of atrial fibrillation are much less successful. In the
the patient. Working with Dr. Belden in the delivery of this
past, these patients were told that there was no longer anything
treatment are cardiac electrophysiologists Emerson Liu, MD,
that could be done to treat their condition and that they would
and Amit Thosani, MD, as well as cardio-thoracic surgeon
have to live with it.
Robert Moraca, MD.
“We have found that a relatively new procedure — hybrid
ablation — can be effective in patients suffering persistent
atrial fibrillation,” said William Belden, MD. “With cardiac
electrophysiologists and cardiac surgeons working together, we
are able to offer a unique form of pulmonary vein isolation that has
proven to be highly effective in a majority of these cases.”
“We have been very pleased with the results of the program” said
Dr. Belden. “Hybrid ablation provides a treatment option to many
patients who in the past were told that they had to live with this
abnormal rhythm and all of its accompanying symptoms. And
we’re pleased to be the only cardiovascular team in the region to
offer this procedure.”
A two-step procedure that is performed in one trip to the
operating room, hybrid ablation is available in only a handful of
hospitals across the country. A cardiac surgeon first inserts
Patients who have not been able to control their atrial fibrillation
with medication can learn more about hybrid ablation by calling
412.DOCTORS.
Allegheny General Hospital • 320 East North Avenue • Pittsburgh, PA 15212 • Contact us at www.ahn.org or call 412.DOCTORS (412.362.8677)