New Surgery For Rapid Heartbeat
COLORADO SPRINGS – A southern Colorado hospital is at the forefront of treating a heart condition that affects more than five million Americans. It’s called Atrial Fibrillation, or A-Fib for short. It’s a malfunction in the heart’s electrical system which causes a rapid or irregular heartbeat. Patient Teri Rose says it would wake her up. “I would sit straight up in the middle of the night, check my pulse–it’d be about 180 and I thought, oh no, what is this?”
The chaotic electrical impulses originate in the pulmonary veins leading to the upper chambers of the heart, or Atria. The cause is unknown, but the consequence can be a five-fold increase in the risk of stroke. Dr. Burt Fowler at Memorial hospital in Colorado Springs is using a new minimally invasive procedure called the AtriCure “Mini Maze.” The device uses radio frequency to bypass the misfiring veins. “Burn a roadblock, if you will, between the pulmonary veins and the left atrium” says Dr. Fowler.”The abnormal electrical activity still occurs obviously, we’re not doing anything about that, but now we’re keeping it from reaching the left atrium.”
The “Mini Maze” surgery takes about an hour, with a two-to-four day hospital recovery. The procedure is showing a better than ninty percent success rate. Says Teri Rose, “I feel much better all the time, I sleep better, I can exercise longer, I don’t have to take naps during the day and I’m off the medication.”
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