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Cardiologists use new ablation technique to treat heart rhythm disorders

In a cardiac arrhythmia, the heart beats irregularly. Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias. The disorder can cause palpitations, irregular heartbeat, fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, or dizziness. “This patient group has a greater risk of blood clots that can cause a stroke or heart attack. The standard treatment, which we have been performing for more than 20 years, is an ablation,” explains cardiologist Dr. Pepijn van der Voort.

New energy form

“Electrical stimuli ensure that the heart continues to work, but sometimes these electrical stimuli can disrupt the heart rhythm. By means of heating – radiofrequency energy – or freezing – cryoablation – we create scars in the heart tissue near the pulmonary veins to prevent arrhythmias”, explains Van der Voort. “The disadvantage of this technique is that it can also damage surrounding tissue, such as nerves, blood vessels and the esophagus. This doesn’t happen often, but if we can reduce these kinds of complications even further by means of this new technique, this new energy form, then we will. The Catharina Cardiovascular Center is continuously working to improve the care for our patients.”

Fewer complications

The new technique, pulsed field ablation or electroporation, results in fewer complications and complaints. Van der Voort: “With the help of an electric field, small scars are made in the heart tissue where the arrhythmia arises, so that these stimuli are blocked. The new method is fast, effective and has a much smaller chance of complications. During the treatment, a catheter is inserted near the heart that locally delivers short but strong electric shocks. These shocks mean that only heart muscle cells around the catheter die. As a result, the other cells and tissues are spared, so that we can almost rule out complications.”

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