|
Heart Rhythm Disorders
Our cardiovascular surgeons and specialists in Cardiac Electrophysiology offer advanced techniques to diagnose and treat heart rhythm disturbances and to prevent sudden cardiac death. Sacred Heart and its cardiologists are the region's leader in performing catheter ablation procedures to interrupt abnormal electrical pathways in the heart. Using a catheter that delivers high intensity energy to the inside of the heart, our electrophysiologists can cure certain disabling and sometimes life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias.
For patients who cannot be helped by medication or a catheter ablation procedure, Sacred Heart also offers a new surgical option to treat atrial fibrilation, a common but potentially deadly heart rhythm disorder. The new surgical approach uses a high intensity ultrasound device to safely treat irregular heartbeat without having to place the patient on a heart-lung bypass machine. The procedure destroys specific heart muscle cells that transmit erratic heart rhythms.
To provide fail-safe therapy for patients at high risk of cardiac arrest and sudden death, Sacred Heart can implant cardioverter-defibrillator devices including smaller investigational devices that no longer require opening the chest cavity.
Sacred Heart Hospital was one of the nation's leading sites for a major national study, the Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial. This landmark study found that people with heart failure live longer when they receive an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD).
According to the American Heart Association, sudden cardiac arrest occurs six to nine times more frequently in people with heart failure than in the general population.
|
