I recently came across a video of Dr. Frank Marchlinski performing a PVA.
Dr. Marchlinski is the director of cardiac electrophysiology at U. of PA, and is one of the pioneers, in this country, of catheter ablation procedures for
treatment of Afib. He performed the "live" PVA at the recent Afib symposium hosted by Dr. Natale at the Cleveland Clinic.
The PVA was filmed as part of Penn's regular 1/2 hour TV program which highlights new developments in medicine. This particular episode
also features another cardiologist performing a mitral valve repair with robotics.
The afib patient was a man in his 30s who passed out while playing basketball while he was in afib. Of course, you don't see the entire procedure but you do get a close-up of the EP Lab with the patient on the table, and the array of monitor screens behind him each measuring a different aspect, for instance, he shows how they create the map, there are screens that monitor the actual electrical activity, etc. You see the catheters going into the heart and there is a close-up of the needle that is used to pierce the septum so that catheters can be passed into the left atrium. That part's a little scary.
If anyone is interested you can access the video on Penns' website,
www.pennhealth.com. The television program is called Vital Signs and I think you can click right on it on the home page. Or you can do a search.
You can watch the video online or order a free vidotape. The name of the episode is "Minimally Invasive Cardiac Treatments".
