Southlake first hospital to use new cardiac catheter

Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket became the first hospital world-wide this past week to treat a patient using a new cardiac catheter for use in electrophysiology (EP) studies- a specialized procedure to diagnose and treat conditions associated with rhythm disturbances of the heart.

Similar to GPS navigation, the single-use ultrasound catheter uses magnetic fields to register two- dimensional ultrasound images of the heart within specialized heart mapping software. As the software receives the ultrasound images, they are stacked like a deck of cards to create a 3D model of the heart or individual chamber of the heart. Using these images, the physician can pinpoint locations within the patient's heart that require treatment for debilitating and often life threatening arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) with great precision and without the use of X-rays.

"Southlake Regional Health Centre is committed to supporting innovative advances in the treatment of cardiac disease," said Dr. Zaev Wulffhart, Medical Director of the Heart Rhythm Program. "Southlake is the only heart centre in Canada to use intracardiac ultrasound in the treatment of heart rhythm disorders. As a result, it was a good fit for us to participate in the evaluation of this next generation device."

The main advantage of the new catheter's ultrasound capabilities, merged with the heart mapping software, is that images of the heart can be created in real time. The current norm at other heart centres is to take images of the heart using high resolution CT Scans or MRIs. Although this process is effective, the images are usually taken several days in advance of the scheduled EP study. Using intra-cardiac ultrasound enables patients to receive treatment faster and reduces both patient and physician exposure to Xrays.

During the next several weeks, selected patients with rhythm disturbances of the heart will be treated using the new catheter by Southlake electro physiologists Drs. Yaariv Khaykin and Atul Verma with the support of a highly skilled team of cardiac nurses and technologists.