MedStar Health is the first health system to offer Pulsed Field Ablation in the greater Washington, DC and Baltimore regions.
Pulsed field ablation is a catheter-based, non-thermal technique that emits a series of high-intensity energy pulses to electroporate target cells rather than burn or freeze them. This enables rapid, complete, and highly specific ablation of heart tissue associated with irregular electrical activity while sparing surrounding structures (e.g., nerves, lungs, esophagus). It is more efficient and likely safer than previous techniques, and early evidence suggests that it may result in better clinical outcomes.
A cardiac electrophysiologist threads a thin tube called a catheter through the patient’s veins from the groin to the upper chamber of the heart. There, the instrument releases electromagnetic waves into the cardiac tissue responsible for AFib. By the process called electroporation, the waves make microscopic holes in the cell membrane so electrical impulses can’t go astray and cause AFib.
Patients usually rest in the hospital for a few hours and return home the same day. Over the next few months, patients stop taking medications for AFib. Depending upon their individual risk factors, some patients remain on blood thinners. Our goal is to minimize long-term medication use for our patients and reduce AFib symptoms.
The best candidates for pulsed field ablation are patients whose AFib is paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, a brief event off fibrillation that lasts less than a week, and early persistent atrial fibrillation, when irregular heart rhythms last more than a week.
What to expect
While pulse field ablation can be performed as open-heart surgery, it’s more commonly done as a minimally invasive cardiac catheterization procedure. For many types of arrhythmias, catheter ablation is successful in 90 to 98 percent of cases, eliminating the need for open-heart surgery or long-term drug therapies.
You may be given a sedative to help you relax, but you will remain awake throughout the procedure. A local anesthetic will be injected to numb the area in the arm or groin where the doctor will insert a thin, flexible tube known as a catheter. They will guide the catheter through a blood vessel to the heart. Small electrical impulses will be sent through an electrode catheter to identify the abnormal tissue causing the arrhythmia. The doctor will send a mild, painless burst of heat or cold through the catheter to destroy the tissue causing your abnormal heart rhythm.
The procedure takes 2 to 4 hours, and you’ll likely be able to go home the same day.
Conditions
Pulsed field ablation is used for the treatment of distinct types of atrial fibrillation.
Tests
Echocardiogram
An echocardiogram uses high-frequency sound waves to create images of your heart.
Electrocardiogram (ECG)
An electrocardiogram, also known as an ECG, measures the heart’s electrical activity.
Event Monitors
An event monitor is a small device that records the heart’s electrical activity. It’s similar to an electrocardiogram, but where an electrocardiogram takes place over a few minutes, an event monitor measures heart rhythms over a much longer time.
Holter Monitors
A Holter monitor is a small device that records the heart’s electrical activity. It’s similar to an electrocardiogram, but whereas an electrocardiogram records over a few minutes, a Holter monitor records over the course of a day or two.
Loop Recorder
A loop recorder is a device that’s implanted underneath the skin of your chest to record your heart rhythm for up to 3 years.
Electrophysiology Testing
Electrophysiology testing is used to evaluate the cause and location of an abnormal heartbeat (known as an arrhythmia).
Our providers
Location: Change location Enter your location
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Zayd Eldadah, MD
Electrophysiology
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Cyrus Hadadi, MD
Electrophysiology
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Athanasios Thomaides, MD
Cardiology & Electrophysiology
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Additional information
Electrophysiology Program
We are leaders in developing and using the latest procedures and technologies to treat heart rhythm disorders, and our cardiac electrophysiology laboratory is one of the most sophisticated in North America.
Ask MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute
Have general questions for our heart and vascular program? Email us at AskMHVI@medstar.net. If you have clinically-specific questions, please contact your physician’s office.