AMITA Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital issued the following announcement on Sept. 18.
Atrial fibrillation (Afib) is the most common kind of arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) and can be a potentially life-threatening condition. Patients often have symptoms of palpitations, or a feeling of an irregular pulse. They may also experience other symptoms, such as shortness of breath, lack of stamina, fatigue, dizziness and syncope (fainting).
Some people may not have any symptoms at the outset, which may result in delayed diagnosis and intervention. Hence, their Afib may become much more advanced. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), people living with Afib are five times more likely to experience stroke. For some people, their first could be a debilitating stroke.
Afib is a progressive and debilitating disease that puts patients at high risk for stroke or heart failure. It is also known that Afib may result in increasing the death rate by about twofold.
No-Radiation Ablation
One of the most common treatments for Afib is a minimally invasive procedure known as cardiac ablation. The traditional approach is to perform the procedure with a fluoroscopy (an advanced type of X-ray technology) guiding an electrophysiologist (EP) as the doctor threads catheters through sheaths that are inserted into patient’s veins or arteries to reach the heart. The catheter destroys (ablates) tiny areas of the heart muscle that are responsible for sending off abnormal electrical impulses and causing irregular heart rhythm.
Unfortunately, the use of X-ray comes with radiation risks to patients and medical staff performing the procedure. Radiation exposure has been linked to an increased lifetime risk of malignancies (cancers), skin injuries, genetic defects and cataracts.
Fortunately, ablation without X-ray can be used to effectively avoid such risks. This becomes especially important in patients undergoing repeated and prolonged ablations of complex heart rhythm abnormalities, including Afib.
In July 2010, I performed my first catheter ablation without using X-ray. Rather than the fluoroscopy, I rely on electrophysiology technology that deploys 3-D imaging combined with ultrasound to guide the catheter to the target areas of the heart. Since then the medical community has generously — and accurately — referred to me as a pioneer in the field. I was the first person in the world who started performing every catheter ablation without use of X-ray. In the past decade I have done nearly three thousand consecutive, radiation-free catheter ablations.
I have been privileged to serve as a teacher and mentor to many of my peers around the world, conducting online educational seminars during the coronavirus pandemic to enable hundreds of doctors on every continent to perform electrophysiology procedure without radiation. In Illinois, only two other doctors do all of their ablations without X-ray, and I had the privilege of training them both. I also share my expertise through articles in peer-reviewed medical journals, and I served as the editor of a 2019 book titled Fluoroscopy Reduction Techniques for Catheter Ablation of Cardiac Arrhythmias.
Yet my greatest satisfaction is serving members of my Chicago-area community and my wonderful colleagues on our EP team, who do not need to wear the quite heavy and chronic-injury-producing protective equipment made of lead. With no-radiation ablation, everyone wins.
Original source can be found here.
Source: AMITA Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital
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