Getting in Rhythm: Bay Medical Center Offers New Heart Procedure to Treat Cardiac Arrhythmias
By Donna Vavala, The News Herald, Panama City, Fla.
Oct. 27–PANAMA CITY — Bay Medical Center has purchased high-tech equipment that helps doctors diagnose, treat and potentially cure cardiac arrhythmias, or abnormal heart rhythms. The new equipment provides a three-dimensional look at the problem spot so doctors can tame arrhythmias without invasive surgery. Atrial fibrillation occurs when the electrical signals that control muscle contractions in the upper chambers, or atria, speed up. This may cause the muscle to spasm and reduce the pumping ability of the heart by 20 to 25 percent.
Treatment is tailored to patients’ specific problems. One treatment is catheter oblation, in which a line of lesions is created around the atrial fibrillation with an irrigated tip catheter. The lesion forms a scar as it heals, holding electrical activity at bay and ending the spasm.
The CARTO XP Navigation System that Bay Medical purchased uses breakthrough technology to pinpoint the position of the catheter that is inserted into the leg or neck and maneuvered into the heart. The catheter transmits electrical data about the patient’s heart into a system that creates a color-coded, three-dimensional map that indicates the patient’s problem area. Then the Carto XP Navigation System guides a special catheter to the origin of the problem so the oblation can be performed.
The procedure takes between four and six hours. The patient stays overnight at the hospital and is observed for about 18 hours before being released.
Arrhythmias affect more than four million people over age 65 in the United States. Men are more likely to be affected because their hearts are larger. Symptoms include heart palpitations, lack of energy, dizziness, chest discomfort and shortness of breath. Sometimes, there are no symptoms. If left untreated, arrhythmias can lead to a stroke or heart failure.
“One-third of hospital admissions are due to atrial fibrillation,” said Dr. B. Judson Colley, who specializes in treating it. “Out of all the heart disorders, arrhythmias are the most problematic. Ninety percent of all atrial fibrillation comes from pulmonary veins. Our initial goal is to slow the fibrillation down.”
Bay Medical is the only local hospital where the Carto XP Navigation System procedure is available. Colley and Dr. Hari Baddigam, a cardiac electrophysiologist, performed it on their first patient last month.
“I wanted him to come in and talk about it,” Baddigam said, “but he said he was on his way to California. I guess it worked.”
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