Arrhythmias and Electrophysiology

Cardiovascular Haemodynamics Unit is equipped with the most advanced technology for the diagnosis and treatment of coronary diseases. We diagnose and treat cardiac arrhythmias with non-invasive techniques.

Procedure

An arrhythmia is any alteration of the normal rhythm of heart beat. Antiarrhythmic drugs and non-drug therapies are available for its treatment. The latter are always supervised by cardiologists who are specialists of the disease.

These treatments basically include the placement of devices such as pacemakers or implantable automatic defibrillators, and the electrical approach using catheters, also known as ablation. Pacemakers are indicated when the patient's heart rate is insufficient for the normal functioning of the body. They are usually implanted under local anaesthetic and provide the needed stimuli to the heart for normal functioning.

Another technique used is the so called transcatheter ablation aims to selectively destroy the areas of the heart that cause the arrhythmia. In this procedure, these devices are introduced from the patient's groin until they reach the heart. Once placed in the heart, the areas causing the arrhythmia are located and destroyed by making tiny lesions with the catheter. The use of transcatheter ablation helps in the curative treatment of many arrhythmias such as paroxysmal tachycardias or pre-excitation syndromes; success rates are almost 100%.