NGMC First in State to Perform New Cardiac Procedure on Adults - 5/24/2005
Northeast Georgia Medical Center (NGMC) has become the first hospital in Georgia to use cryoablation on adults, a new technique to treat irregular heartbeats, also called arrhythmias, a condition that affects more than two million Americans, according to the American Heart Association. The technique, which involves freezing abnormal areas causing arrhythmias, is safer and easier to use than alternate procedures that treat by heating.
?Cryoablation is a new, and in many ways better, approach to curing heart rhythm disorders,? says Karthik Ramaswamy, MD, an electrophysiologist with Northeast Georgia Heart Center and Director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory at NGMC. Dr. Ramaswamy has applied cryoablation on 28 patients at NGMC in the past year since the program has started at NGMC. ?It is a tremendous advance in the treatment of arrhythmias. This technology provides us with an additional tool to help more patients with arrhythmias. It has several advantages over traditional techniques particularly regarding improved safety.?
Cryoablation works by using a special probe that is cooled to minus-70 degree Celsius and threaded through the patient?s veins to the heart. Once in place, the physician targets the abnormal pathway causing the arrhythmia, and the probe super-cools the cells enough to destroy the ones causing the irregular heartbeat.
Cryoablation is performed in the cardiac catheterization lab at NGMC. During the procedure, patients are sedated and do not feel the probe or the cryoablation process. The procedure lasts a few hours and may require an overnight stay. Patients can usually resume normal activities within a few days.
Larry Lovell, 56 of Clarkesville, is one such patient.
?In 1994 I had ablation at Crawford Long Hospital to treat my tachycardia (extremely elevated heart beat),? says Lovell. ?They were not able to completely solve my condition, and in October of last year, I started having episodes of tachycardia again. At first, the episodes were only when I was active, but then they started waking me up at night and it was then that I knew we had to do something.?
Dr. Ramaswamy suggested cryotherapy. ?My procedure lasted about five hours in the cath lab,? says Lovell after less than 24-hours after his procedure. ?I feel great, and I?ll be back working on my farm in a couple of days.?
The main advantage of cryoablation is that it is safer in many situations than the alternative, radiofrequency ablation, which burns away bad heart cells with heating devices. Heat-based probes may cause unwanted damage to nearby cells or coronary arteries, potentially resulting in higher rates of complications.
?The cryo probe is easier to position at the target and avoid damaging nearby structures in the heart. Ablation is already a very safe procedure, but cryoablation adds a further margin of safety and efficacy that may make a big difference for some patients.? says Dr. Ramaswamy. ?And best of all, the results are comparable or better than using a heat probe.?
For more information about cryoablation, or cardiac services provided at Northeast Georgia Medical Center, call 770-531-3840 or go to
www.nghs.com.
Bonnie
