Description
Electrophysiology is a rapidly advancing field, bringing new hope to patients with both fast and slow heart rhythm disorders. In this video, the experts at UAMS Health highlight some of the latest technologies transforming heart rhythm care. Learn how devices helps patients with atrial fibrillation reduce stroke risk and avoid long-term blood thinners, how leadless pacemakers are expanding options for patients with slow heart rates, and why pulse field ablation (PFA) is an exciting new, safer approach to treating abnormal rhythms.
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Transcript
Electrophysiology is a very interesting field. There’s a lot of technology coming out in various aspects to treat either the slow or the fast heart rhythm problems that we usually deal with.
Two such things are—well, first one is a Watchman device. What this essentially entails is: for people with atrial fibrillation who are at an elevated risk of stroke, they traditionally have been on blood thinners to reduce that risk of stroke. Being on a blood thinner is not nice long-term. There are multiple risks or issues that you can run into—one is whether you’re able to afford a blood thinner in the first place.
Watchman is a fairly recent technology which allows us to plug an area of the heart where these blood clots arise. As a result of that, patients don’t have to be on blood thinners long-term, and it really helps benefit their quality of life—helps redirect finances into other things. And for people who are at a higher risk of bleeding, it is really a life-saving measure.
In terms of devices, on the other side of the spectrum—taking care of patients with low heart rates—there are pacemakers, which traditionally go through the veins and sit underneath your skin. The leadless pacing technology, which also has been around for a couple of years but is always improving and getting better, allows us to provide more options to patients.
And at the end of the day, as an electrophysiologist, when a person walks into my office needing to deal with a particular problem, what I like is to provide them with options that I have that can get them to a better place—that can help them improve what they’re feeling and help them regain their life back.
A particular technology that I’m most excited about in the field of EP is PFA, or pulse ablation. It is a new ablation technique that is gaining more traction essentially worldwide. And the reason we’re excited about this technology is because it helps us perform ablations—and other ablations for a vast variety of things—in a much safer way.
