JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Ascension St. Vincent’s is using new technology to treat patients with atrial fibrillation (A-fib).
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Atrial fibrillation is when the heart has an irregular and often rapid rhythm. It can cause the heart to beat up to 400 times a minute.
Ascension St. Vincent’s is using new devices to treat A-Fib patients through a process called Pulsed Field Ablation.
Mike French is a patient who had the new procedure done and now he doesn’t experience A-Fib after dealing with it for three years.
“It’s life-changing,” French said. “You get to live life on your own terms.”
French, a 16-year Navy veteran said he can now do the things he loves without worry like playing golf, exercising, and taking long walks.
He also doesn’t have to take blood thinners anymore.
“You just bruise so much more easily,” French said. “You cut yourself shaving and it is a pain to get it to stop, those kinds of things.”
Dr. Saumil Oza at Ascension St. Vincent’s said he has treated hundreds of patients with the new procedure since becoming FDA-approved in February.
Doctors use the device as a high-energy field to destroy tissue around the heart that causes A-Fib. It’s done without a heating or cooling method which was typically done in the past.
“The problem with that is there are structures around the heart that can also be damaged during that process,” Oza said. “We have to be very careful not to do that when we are using the previous technology.”
Oza considers this new form more efficient, and safer and opens the patient pool.
“This allows me to treat two ends of the spectrum,” Oza said. “Much healthier patients at an earlier stage in their A-Fib. So catch the A-Fib earlier, which makes the procedure much more effective. As well as patients who are much sicker, who I otherwise would not feel comfortable bringing to a procedure.”
Oza said this has been a pivotal moment.
“Now that the risk is lower, we can actually bring healthier patients to the lab at an earlier stage in the disease,” Oza said. “This has been a really pivotal moment. This is kind of that holy grail we’ve been looking for.”
He said it’s another way he wants to help patients live their fullest lives.
According to Oza, there are more than 6 million A-Fib patients in the United States and about 300,000 A-Fib ablations per year.
The growth rate of A-Fib ablation procedures has been 15% per year over the past decade.
He expects that growth rate to most likely double over the next few years.