News in Brief

St. John’s Clinic cardiologists offer breakthrough treatment for irregular heart rhythm

St. John’s Clinic cardiologists are the first in the region to offer a new treatment for atrial fibrillation (irregular heart rhythm). Catheter-based pulmonary vein isolation procedure is proving successful for many patients with the heart disorder that affects about 2.2 million people.

Atrial fibrillation is an abnormal heart rhythm originating in the atria (top chambers of the heart). Instead of the impulse traveling in an orderly fashion through the heart, many impulses begin and spread through the atria, causing a rapid and disorganized heartbeat.

Electrophysiologists (subspecialists within cardiology) Shang-Chuin Lee, M.D. and Stanley Wiggins, M.D., perform the ablations in an electrophysiology lab within St. John’s Hospital’s cardiac catheterization lab. The doctor inserts several catheters into venous blood vessels (the neck and groin usually) and advances them into the right and left atria of the heart. These catheters are used for mapping (searching for the electrical impulses that fire abnormally, causing atrial fibrillation) and the delivery of energy (ablation) to the area.

Intracardiac ultrasound, performed by a catheter transducer inserted from a venous blood vessel into the heart, is used throughout the procedure to view the structures of the heart and evaluate pulmonary blood flow. Three-dimensional electromagnetic mapping of pulmonary veins and left atrium are also performed with a special catheter and software system recently purchased by St. John’s.

“The ablation is performed by delivering energy from a catheter to the area of the atria that connects to the pulmonary vein, producing a circular electrical barrier. The barrier will then block any impulses firing from within the pulmonary vein from reaching the atrium, thus preventing atrial fibrillation from occurring. The process is repeated on all four pulmonary veins,” explains Lee.

Patients usually go home after a one-night hospital stay and feel relief from symptoms immediately. In nationwide studies, pulmonary vein isolation procedure has an 80 to 85 percent overall success rate. Until now, atrial fibrillation has primarily been treated with medicine. The medicine success rate, however, is only about 40-50 percent and has undesirable side effects.

Many people live for years with atrial fibrillation without symptoms, but it is now known that chronic atrial fibrillation can lead to future problems. Symptoms include heart palpitations, lethargy, vertigo, chest discomfort and shortness of breath.

People with chronic atrial fibrillation are five to seven times more likely to have a stroke than the general population. Other risks include blood clots to other parts of the body and increased risk of heart failure and death.

“We now know the longer you have atrial fibrillation, the more frequent it becomes and the harder it is to treat,” says Wiggins. “There’s an immediate relief of symptoms following pulmonary vein ablation. This has been one of the biggest breakthroughs in the history of electrophysiology.”

Springfield selected as host city for USA Weightlifting National Championship

Springfield was selected as the host city of the USA Weightlifting (USAW) National School-Age Championships to take place in June 2007. USAW is the national governing body for Olympic weightlifting and is responsible for conducting Olympic weightlifting programs throughout the country.

The bid proposal for the competition was sent by St. John’s HealthTracks’ Team Trax Weightlifting, one of USAW’s 45 Local Weightlifting Committee’s affiliates.