I happily exclaim on entering the patient’s room on morning rounds, “Good news, your heart rhythm is regular, the atrial fibrillation is gone!” “Converted at 0230 this am,” he says in a fatigued voice. I ask, “How do you know it was 0230?” He tells me, “Because the nurse came in, flipped on the lights, […]
Category: Atrial fibrillation
Catheter Ablation of the planets most ubiquitous arrhythmia, atrial fibrillation was in the news this week. A study showing pulmonary vein isolation is far more effective than drugs for controlling AF in a relatively young healthy patient cohort who has failed a prior anti-arrhythmic drug. It strikes me as an intellectually honest study: 5645 patients […]
When in medical school we learned that the pulmonary veins carry blood from the lungs to the heart like a simple pipe. Now we know that pulmonary veins previously thought to be inert pipes often hold the triggers for the the most common arrhythmia on earth, atrial fibrillation. Cardiac muscle bundles wrapped around these veins […]
Just when one can discover little good news in the health care reform dreariness, a text message comes from the hospital vice president overseeing cardiac care. The hospital board has approved expansion of the current dated EP (electrophysiology) lab to two modern labs side by side. Capital investments like this are not for the faint […]
Here are two vignettes illustrating the failure of doctors to master the obvious and maybe a window onto the future struggles to control medical costs. A 90 year old is referred for care due to “end stage dementia.” End-stage dementia is medical speak and as such does not really convey the appropriate imagery. It means […]
Last spring in the warmth I finish talking to my friend, a gardener, and he speaks of his engagement with non-cycling endeavors and inability to ride the bike for hours. Hanging up the phone I am perplexed. How can this be? But now after the third and final day of the atrial fibrillation symposium I […]
There are many highlights of this outstanding meeting but the live cases are always a standout. Today there were 2 from Rochester, MN and one from Boston. Live ablation procedures on real life patients are beamed into the lecture hall via some mysterious satellite through a maze of cables. The operators, with their NFL-coach […]
It is a seemingly endless classroom, forty foot warehouse type ceiling, all black walls, five bipoles of jumbo screen monitors and hundreds of atrial fibrillation experts from all over the world, speaking in many dialects and languages. A long way from the friendly confines and comfort of lab 5, the electrophysiology lab on Kresge Way. […]
Not sure if using a question from the comment section is ‘pc’ in the blog-o-sphere but the issue raised is highly worthy of commentary. “Until last May I considered myself to be pretty serious cyclist as well, until exercise induced atrial fibrillation became a problem. Now I’m actually afraid to get on the bike, lest […]
November marks the annual American Heart Association (AHA) meeting. This is one of the few major heart meetings each year. AHA focuses on the newest technologies for the treatment of ongoing cardiac disease. Termed, “secondary prevention,” this year there were studies on implantable devices for heart failure, new blood thinners to assist in the squishing […]