The heart, like all muscles in the body, is controlled by tiny electrical signals the body generates.
Atrial fibrillation is a condition when the heart beat is irregular and often rapid; it is the most common type of arrhythmia in the United States, affecting approximately 2.7 million people.
Irregular heart rhythms impair the hearts ability to effectively pump blood throughout the cardiovascular system and the One Heart Team of Marshfield Clinic and Ministry Health Care at Ministry Saint Clare’s Hospital in Weston have a new tool to treat atrial fibrillation.
One of the treatments for atrial fibrillation is radiofrequency ablation and Sanjay Kumar, MD, FACP, FACC a Marshfield Clinic Electrophysiologist on staff at Ministry Saint Clare’s, successfully performed the first contact-force ablations for Atrial Fibrillation in the state of Wisconsin using the TactiCath Quartz ablation catheter on December 11-12. This new ablation catheter was approved for treatment of atrial fibrillation by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at the end of October.
During the ablation procedure, a catheter or thin wire with an electrode at its tip is guided to the area of heart muscle where abnormal signals are located. Radiofrequency energy similar to a microwave is used to destroy tiny areas responsible for abnormal signals that cause rapid and irregular heartbeats. Once those abnormal signals are destroyed (lesions), it helps restore the heart’s regular rhythm.
The TactiCath Quartz ablation catheter provides Electrophysiologists with the ability to monitor the amount of pressure that a catheter tip exerts on the tissue that lines the chambers of the heart.
“Traditionally, physicians have had to estimate the amount of force to exert to the heart wall during ablation by touch,” said Kumar. “If too little force is applied to the tissue, effective lesions may not be created and atrial-fibrillation may reoccur. When too much force is applied to the tissue, this will increase the risk of tissue injury that can lead to serious procedure related complications.”
Arrhythmias can affect anyone at any age, but people with underlying heart disease are at the highest risk.
“This is another example of our One Heart Team working together to produce fantastic results for our patients,” said Janet Abell, RN, director of cardiovascular services at Ministry Saint Clare’s. “We’re pleased to be able to offer this procedure to our patients here in central and northern Wisconsin.
The TactiCath Quartz ablation catheter is manufactured by St. Jude Medical, Inc.
There is a large and growing body of evidence to support the safety and effectiveness of contact-force ablation technology, led by St. Jude Medical’s TOCCATA, EFFICAS I, EFFICAS II and TOCCASTAR studies. Collectively, these landmark data were associated with a reduction in the rate of atrial fibrillation recurrence when optimal contact force was used. Initial analyses from the TOCCASTAR clinical trial, presented earlier this year at Heart Rhythm 2014, demonstrated that when performing an ablation using TactiCath, 85.5 percent of patients were free from paroxysmal AF after 12 months when optimal contact-force parameters were achieved versus 67.7 percent of patients when non-optimal contact-force parameters were used.
About: The Marshfield Clinic and Ministry Health Care heart care team:
The Marshfield Clinic and Ministry Health Care heart care team is a cooperative effort by two leading health care organizations working together as a single heart care program. For over 90 years, this has enabled the team to deliver the very highest level of care available in the region. It is the heart care team chosen more often than any other local program, treating the most complex cases and conducting more research into leading edge heart care treatments. These top heart specialists see patients at over a dozen locations throughout north central Wisconsin and staff two advanced care and surgical centers in Marshfield and Weston. For more information, visit:oneheartcareteam.org.
About St. Jude Medical
St. Jude Medical is a global medical device manufacturer dedicated to transforming the treatment of some of the world’s most expensive epidemic diseases. The company does this by developing cost-effective medical technologies that save and improve lives of patients around the world. Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., St. Jude Medical has four major clinical focus areas that include cardiac rhythm management, atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular and neuromodulation. For more information, please visit sjm.com
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