[news] St. David's is first in the U.S. to use new dual energy catheter for AFib, heart flutters

pasting article because of paywall. I had my ablation done at Texas Cardiac Arrythmia Institute 6 months ago and received 77pulse field ablations via 2 catheters. doing it with 1:

[www.statesman.com]

Nicole Villalpando
Austin American-Statesman

Lakeway attorney David Wright, 72, had had dizzy spells for years, but none of his doctors found the source. Last year, when he was jogging, he noticed his heart rate, which was usually in the 50s, went up to the 180s or even the 190s.

He didn't feel his heart pounding in his chest, but "I felt suddenly tired and a little nauseous," Wright said.

It was enough of a warning sign that at his regular physical in October, he mentioned it to his primary care doctor, who placed him on a heart rate monitor for two weeks. That monitor revealed that he had both a heart flutter and atrial fibrillation, an irregular heart rhythm.

Wright would need an ablation to stop the AFib and the flutter. And he would need a pacemaker to make sure his heart rate could be corrected if something happened again.

During an ablation, a cardiac electrophysiologist snakes a catheter through a vein or artery, usually in the groin or the wrist, to get to the heart. Inside this tiny tube is a device with a specialized tip to deliver a specific frequency or pulse to kill the area that is causing the irregular heart rhythm or flutter.

Doing an ablation "is like putting out a fire. It's better to put it out when it is small because it generally worsens with time," said Dr. Amin Al-Ahmad, a cardiac electrophysiologist at St. David's Medical Center's Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute.

The need for a new kind of catheter
Because Wright had two different areas of concern in his heart, he traditionally would need to have an ablation using two different catheters. One that uses two types of energy: one with radio frequency, which has been the standard, and one that uses pulse field ablation, a newer non-thermal type of energy.

The Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute was part of the clinical trials for Medtronic's Affera mapping and ablation system with the Sphere-9 catheter that uses both pulse field and radio frequency. It became FDA-approved in October and St. David's became the first medical center in the country to use it.

For Al-Ahmad, this new device allowed him to only use one catheter, inserted in the groin and snaked up to reach the areas of Wright's heart that were causing the AFib and the flutter. Using a foot pedal, Al-Ahmad can switch the catheter's energy from pulse field to the radio frequency and back and forth, or he can have someone else switch it manually on the mapping console.

In Wright's case, Al-Ahmad needed to use both types of energy. The pulse frequency is faster and reduces the risk of injury to the surrounding tissue, including the esophagus, which is close to where Wright's AFib was in the pulmonary veins. The radio frequency, though, was ideal for Wright's two different atrial flutters in the left and right atriums. It avoided the risk the spasm of the artery that can happen with the pulse frequency.

While the newer pulse frequency allows for faster procedures, Al-Ahmad reminds "in some areas, it's not the right choice."

Returning to exercise
For Wright, the recovery from the ablations in November was easy and would have had no restrictions. Putting in a pacemaker, though, meant he had to avoid lifting anything heavier than 10 pounds for six weeks.

Wright is back to walking his dog and running on a treadmill at the gym, and his pacemaker's remote monitor has not detected any AFib.

When he runs, he no longer has that tiredness or nausea.

"I feel great," he said.

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Ablation performed Sep 2024 by Dr Bode at Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia. Grateful for my care team and the afibbers community for helping me through this journey



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/28/2025 02:49PM by rayfes.

Very interesting—thank you for posting!

You're welcome Nancy! It's nice to see technology progress. I was fortunate to get the pulse field ablation and 6 months later I seem to be doing well though I still have some SVTs and PACs which they say are benign.

--
Ablation performed Sep 2024 by Dr Bode at Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia. Grateful for my care team and the afibbers community for helping me through this journey

So nice to read about this, and glad you're doing so well. :>)