Heart Rhythm Program

Our Heart Rhythm Program features highly experienced physicians who have been at the forefront of delivering nationally recognized cardiac care. Our physicians have successfully performed more than 700 atrial fibrillation ablations and have inserted thousands of pacemakers. For more than 30 years, our Harrell Heart Center electrophysiologists and state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab have been leading providers of arrhythmia care.

Procedures in our Heart Rhythm Program include:

 

ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY STUDIES
Electrophysiology studies are performed to discover irregularities of the heartbeat known as arrhythmias. During the procedure, catheters are placed in peripheral veins or arteries and moved to the heart. They record cardiac electrical signals and determine the spread of the electrical impulses occurring with each beat to identify conduction defects and/or arrhythmia pathways. The results of the study will often permit our physicians to successfully perform ablations to cure the heart rhythm problems as described on these pages.

 

CARDIAC ABLATIONS
Nonsurgical cardiac ablation procedures are used to treat some types of abnormal rapid heartbeats that cause patients to have poor cardiac function. To correct this, a physician guides a catheter to the area of heart muscle where the damaged site is located and uses a mild, painless radiofrequency energy (similar to microwave heat) to stop conducting the extra impulses that caused the rapid heartbeats.

 

PACEMAKER AND DEFIBRILLATOR (ICD) INSERTION
Ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation are life-threatening heart rhythms that cause the heart to beat very fast.

A pacemaker is a small device inserted into either the chest or abdomen to control heart rhythms. It uses electrical pulses to prompt regular heartbeats. An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is an electronic device that constantly monitors heart rhythm. When it detects a very fast, abnormal heart rhythm, it will try to pace the heart out of that rhythm or deliver an energy shock to the heart muscle. This causes the heart to beat in a normal rhythm again.

Our Heart Rhythm Program voluntarily participates in the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR®) ICD Registry™, assuring patients that we provide evidence-based cardiovascular care, improving patient outcomes and lowering healthcare costs.

 

RESYNCHRONIZATION THERAPY
A biventricular pacemaker or defibrillator can be implanted to keep the left and right ventricles pumping together by sending small electrical impulses through heart leads. When a patient suffers from congestive heart failure, often the right and left sides of the heart are not pumping together. This can lead to shortness of breath, dry cough, swelling in the ankles and legs, weight gain, increased urination, fatigue and rapid or irregular heartbeat. Use of a pacemaker or defibrillator has been shown to improve symptoms of heart failure and the overall quality of life in patients with severe symptoms that can’t be controlled by medicine.

 

OUR HEART RHYTHM PROGRAM ALSO PROVIDES OTHER THERAPIES SUCH AS:

  • Loop Recorder Insertion
  • 3D Mapping using advanced electromagnetic imaging technology to create real-time three dimensional (3D) maps of cardiac structure