By BEN SCHOFIELD
A FASTER and more accurate treatment for a painful heart condition which affects thousands of Merseysiders was completed successfully by surgeons in Liverpool last week
Medics at the city’s Heart and Chest Centre, in Broadgreen, say the new procedure was twice as quick as the old method and promises to boost long-term success from 60% to 90%.
In the first trial of the procedure in the North West, two patients received the treatment.
Dr Johan Waktare performed what is known as the Bard Mesh Ablation on Wednesday. The patients were suffering with atrial fibrillation – a rapid heart rhythm that affects 28,000 people in Merseyside and causes excruciating and disabling chest pain. Attacks can happen once a fortnight and can last for up to two hours.
Dr Waktare, who has worked at the Heart and Chest Centre for five years, said last night: “Both procedures went well.
“We used to spend between 20 and 50 minutes burning the veins. Now, with the expandable mesh, I can do one burn in just five minutes.
“It’s quicker and simpler and possibly more successful.”
The condition is caused by a “short circuit” in the electrical network that makes the top two chambers of the heart contract.
Dr Waktare described the old method of treatment as “like painting the hallway through the letter box”. The cardiac electrophysiologist used to feed two catheters into the patient through a vein at the top of their thigh.
The first was used to map the four pulmonary veins that drain blood out of the lungs to find where the short circuit was happening, and then another catheter was then inserted and used to burn away heart tissue around the inside of the veins.
Dr Waktare then spent around four hours burning “cigarette butt- sized”
dots into the veins, hoping to complete a point-to-point circle around their inside.
But, if he inadvertently left gaps, the short circuit could still work through and cause the pain in the future.
Because of this inaccuracy, Dr Waktare said around a third of his patients returned for more treatment after two or three years.
The new procedure requires only one catheter that can both map the veins and burn them. The catheter also uses a mesh wand that expands inside the veins and can burn a complete circle in one go, which is more accurate.
Demand for treatment of atrial fibrillation at the Heart and Chest centre has surged from 250 procedures five years ago, to around 950 a year now.
The tool was developed by Bard Electrophysiology.
A spokesperson for the firm said it was a “simple to use, safe and effective therapy” which “may reduce overall procedure complexity and time.”
(c) 2008 Daily Post; Liverpool. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.
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