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Photo: Public Domain/CC0
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The University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) is the first treatment center in the Benelux to apply a new, revolutionary technique for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, a common heart rhythm disorder.
Using an electric field, small scars are made in the heart tissue where the arrhythmia arises so that unwanted stimuli from that location are blocked. ‘The new method is fast, effective and gives a much smaller chance of complications’, according to the UMCG.
It is a very precise method of treatment in which nerve cells and other tissues are not damaged. The risk of complications is therefore lower. This new technique, pulsed field ablation, is used in about 30 centers worldwide and has proven to be very effective: 1 year after the procedure, most patients no longer experience symptoms of atrial fibrillation.
atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation is one of the most common cardiac arrhythmias. About 170,000 people in the Netherlands suffer from it. The disorder can cause palpitations, irregular heartbeat, fatigue, shortness of breath, chest pain, or dizziness.
On 1 and 2 July, Yuri Blaauw, head of clinical electrophysiology at the UMCG, and his colleague cardiologist Hessel Groenveld were the first in the Benelux to treat 5 patients using pulsed field ablation with the FARAWAVE® catheter from the company FARAPULSE®.
“A treatment could be done very quickly, within an hour, the patients went home the same day and experienced no problems,” says Blaauw. “In this way we can help many more patients in a safe way in the future. An important gain, because there are many patients with atrial fibrillation and there is a long waiting list. We see this new technology as truly groundbreaking.”
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