INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Kathmandu, June 15
Hospital for Advanced Medicine and Surgery has treated 50 heart patients using electrophysiology with radio frequency
ablation procedure in the last five months.
Abnormal heartbeats of patients were corrected without surgery using the procedure.
It is the
second hospital in the country to provide the service after Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre.
The treatment procedure was set up in the
hospital five months ago.
&Electrophysiology is a test performed to assess the heart electrical system or activity, and is used to diagnose
abnormal heartbeats or arrhythmia,& said Roshan Raut, senior consultant cardiologist at HAMS.
The hospital used catheter ablation — a
procedure that uses radio frequency energy, which is similar to microwave heat energy — to destroy a small area of heart tissues that
Destroying such tissues helps restore the heart regular rhythm
Radio frequency energy from 20 to 40 Watt is delivered in the form of a continuous wave form
This energy helps destroy the tissues that cause arrhythmia, said Raut, during a press meet organised at the hospital today.
Abnormal
electrical signals can originate in different areas of the heart at any age
It could be congenital or could appear following a heart attack.
This procedure is used to diagnose and destroy the origins of such
abnormality.
&The procedure uses catheter to map the electrical activity in the heart
The test is performed by inserting catheters and then wire electrodes, which measure electrical activity, through blood vessels that enter
the heart,& said the doctor.
A small incision is made in the groin
A special RFA catheter is inserted into the vein and guided up to the heart using x-ray screening
With catheters in place, the heart electrical activity can be recorded from inside the heart and the tissues that are responsible for
rhythmic disturbances can be located
The tissues are then destroyed, the doctor explained.
The hospital has been using 3D electrical mapping to diagnose the origins of uneven
heartbeat.
The advantage of the procedure is that the patients need not undergo surgery, they do not suffer from pricks and pains of
injections and do not have to stay in hospital for a long time.
Complication can arise in the procedure as heartbeat of some patients can
But that is very rare, added the doctor
The procedure can be used in patients of any age and the treatment is affordable with costs ranging from Rs 70,000 to Rs 200,000.
According
to the doctor, it is a lifetime cure
One even doesn&t have to take any medicines for uneven heartbeats after undergoing the procedure.
The post 50 heart patients benefit from
RFA procedure appeared first on The Himalayan Times.
