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Freezing the Heart to Heal the Heart
– Reported, April 17 2014
Atrial fibrillation causes the heart to contract in a very fast, irregular way. It affects about three million Americans and can lead to heart failure or stroke. Now theres a new treatment that literally freezes AFib away, when medications dont work.
When it comes to spending time in her garden, Carmen Winkler doesnt skip a beat.
I like my flowers, Carmen told Ivanhoe.
But her love was threatened when her own heart began to flutter.
It was so hard, my blouse was moving, Winkler said.
Her doctor diagnosed her with atrial fibrillation.
Atrial fibrillation is a fast irregular heart rhythm from the top chamber of the heart and it affects about 15 percent of the population, Jonathan Rosman, MD, Cardiologist, Delray Medical Center, told Ivanhoe.
When medication fails, Dr. Rosman says radiofrequency ablation is used, where heat destroys the tissue causing the irregularity.
However, what can happen is you can actually burn a hole through the heart and it can go into the esophagus and that can be fatal, Dr. Rosman said.
Now, a new option virtually eliminates that risk by freezing the tissue instead of heating it up.
By freezing, were no longer destroying the tissue. What we are doing is making it electrically inactive, Dr. Rosman said.
A small catheter injects a liquid coolant into the affected area, freezing the tissue and restoring the hearts
rhythm.
Now, Winkler is back to admiring her butterflies just one month after her procedure.
Once we had 80 butterflies, Winkler said.
Cryoablation has been found to be less likely damage heart tissue than radiofrequency ablation.
