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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation General Ablation

Freezing in AF ablation: not so fast you all…

Freezing the heart is in the news.  The STOP-AF trial was presented at ACC, and it sure has generated much excitement about atrial fibrillation ablation.  This is a good thing. However, as is the norm in the era of instantaneous news, the press reports read much differently than reality. The propaganda has an effect. I […]

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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation General Ablation General Medicine Health Care

Day 2: Atrial Fibrillation Symposium. Good doctoring…

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 […]

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Athletic heart Atrial fibrillation Cycling Stuff

A cyclist at the Atrial Fibrillation Symposium- Day 1. Athletes and AFib get some press…

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. […]

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Doctoring Health Care Reflection

Changes in the tone of medical meetings

I am in Boston for the annual Boston AF symposium. It’s a serious meeting– on the other side of the spectrum from old-school boondoggles like Echo-Hawaii or Nuclear-Vail. The sessions start at 7 and go into the night. I am sneaking a few observations in during a coffee break. For starters, if snow removal is […]

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AF ablation Atrial fibrillation General Ablation

Visitors to the EP lab: Inventors who aim to help us ablate Atrial Fibrillation…

One of the often sad facts of ablation in the private world of electrophysiology is the lack of “learners,” or visitors who call on our EP lab.  Heck, even Henry David enjoyed the occasional visitor to his cabin in the woods. When an inventor, patent holder and heart surgeon with his engineering wiz kid asked […]

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AF ablation Athletic heart Atrial fibrillation Doctoring General Cardiology General Medicine Hospice/Palliative Care ICD/Pacemaker

Notes from ACC — Day 3 (Final Day)

Sorry this took most of the week to get out. (There was a good reason.) Better late than never I suppose. On Day 3 of the 2013 American College of Cardiology meeting, I woke up well rested and inspired to squeeze in as much learning as possible. The first order of business was putting the […]