New Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation

• by SMITTY
• 2007-07-20 03:07:51
• General Posting
• 3251 views
• 1 comments

We frequently have people asking questions or telling us about about having treatment for artial fibrillation. I thought the following article from the Temple Daily Telegram on 7-16-07 might be interesting to some.

SCOTT & WHITE USES NEW HEART DEVICE

Scott and White surgeons in Temple, TX, Monday were the first to use a new device they helped develop for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of heart arrhythmia, affecting more than two million people each year.

After 18 months of design, engineering and testing, Scott and White cardiothoracic surgeons Dr. Charles Reiter and Dr. Erik Beyer said they were excited to debut the new device in the operating room.

The Medtronic Cardioblate Gemini was recently approved by the FDA and is used during the minimally invasive MAZE procedure. Instead of opening the chest, the MAZE procedure requires only a few small incisions on the patient's right and left side under the arms.

Scott and White is among the few medical centers in the country that performs the highly complex MAZE - its name is based on the concept of a puzzle - which works by interrupting the circular electrical patterns that are nsible for arrhythmia.
"The equipment we were previously using was designed for the open procedure,." said Reiter, director of Scott and White's Division of Cardiovascular Surgery. "This ablation device is designed exclusively for a minimally invasive approach. It works by putting a scar line around the areas where arrhythmias are occurring. The scar tissue keeps the irregular impulses from traveling throughout the heart, containing the extra signals that we don't want and put. ting the heart back into rhythm. "

The hand-held Gemini, which comes in two versions, features a highly flexible "neck" that provides surgeons with increased' placement options. It also is the first device of its type with bipolar radio frequency, delivering energy directly from the handpiece.

"This new device is easy to use and the hand controls. are fantastic," Beyer said after Monday's procedure. "The ablation lines are much better."

Medtronic Senior Marketing Manager Scott Klein said the
Cardioblate Gemini is an industry first. "It's a different ablating tool than what has been used for the MAZE procedure to date," Klein said. '.'It's easier for the physicians to use and more effective for the patient."