Electrophysiology Interventions & Treatment
Electrophysiology, or EP, is a subspecialty of cardiology that focuses on electrical problems of the heart. Normally, the heart’s electrical system keeps the four chambers of the heart beating in a synchronized way to pump blood. Disruptions in that regular rhythm are called arrhythmias. Electrophysiology (EP) seeks to reduce the risk of complications from arrhythmias by restoring normal heart rhythms. In tachycardia, the heart beats too fast. In bradycardia, it beats too slowly. Some arrhythmias are harmless and may not be noticed for years. Others cause symptoms like palpitations, fatigue, shortness of breath, lightheadedness, and even fainting. Some arrhythmias, such as ventricular fibrillation, are fatal.
EP Treatments
Depending on the type of arrhythmia you have, cardiac ablation may be one of the first suggested treatments or a recourse if medication doesn’t work for you or causes side effects.
Atrial Fibrillation
AFib or AF Ablation, is used to treat atrial fibrillation, a chaotic, rapid irregular heartbeat.
Ventricular Tachycardia
Ventricular Tachycardia or VT Ablation treats ventricular tachycardia, in which the heart's signals make the lower heart chambers, or ventricles, beat too quickly.
Supraventricular Tachycardia
Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT) Ablation treats irregularly fast or erratic heart rhythms that affect the heart's upper chambers, or atria.
Ablation
Ablation is a general term for a procedure to destroy abnormal tissue. In the treatment of arrhythmias, tiny patches of heart cells that are causing the irregular heartbeat are destroyed, effectively short circuiting the disruptive electrical circuit. Ablation treatment for arrhythmias is a catheter-based procedure in which the catheter has a device at its tip that can freeze the targeted heart cells through cryoablation or burn them using radio frequency energy.