Outcomes 2016 - Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital FY 2016 | Page 34

Electrophysiology
Cardiologists with the specialty of electrophysiology on
the medical staff at Baylor Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart
and Vascular Hospital are known throughout the region
for innovative research involvement and many “firsts” in
the diagnosis and treatment for patients suffering from
abnormal heart beats known as arrhythmias.
Interdisciplinary management involving the referring primary
care physician and patients’ non-interventional cardiologist are
important in the electrophysiologists’ approach to comprehensive
patient care. The Center for Complex Arrhythmias (CCA) within
Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital, is a resource for
patients needing information and treatment options for heart
arrhythmias. (See special section on CCA)
The first balloon ablation procedure was performed in 2006
at Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital and the
procedure became mainstream and for commercial use in
2010. Electrophysiologists on the medical staff were the first in
North Texas several years ago to offer the Arctic Front® Cardiac
CryoAblation Catheter System, the first and only cryoballoon
in the U.S. indicated to treat drug refractory recurrrent
symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF), a serious
heart rhythms disorder that affects millions of Americans.
Late in calendar year 2015, the third generation device became
available and first in Texas at Baylor Hamilton Heart and
Vascular Hospital. This third generation includes a thin new
version of the cryoablation catheter introducing critical changes
that make the catheter more maneuverable by the interventional
cardiologist while still delivering the energy needed to successfully
treat paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. It also allows for better
monitoring facilitating more appropriate dosing of the ablation.
Total number of Cardiac
Ablations (FY16):
707
LEADLESS PACEMAKER: FROM RESEARCH
SITE TO COMMERCIAL USE
In November 2015, results from the largest clinical data
presentation ever of transcatheter pacing patients with the
Medtronic Micra® Transcatheter Pacing System (TPS) were
revealed at the 2015 American Heart Association Scientific
Sessions and simultaneously published in The New England
Journal of Medicine. Cardiologists on the medical staff of
Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital were a part of
this land-mark study, Medtronic Micra® TPS Global Clinical
Trial, as one of the world-wide research sites.
Unlike traditional pacemakers, the Micra® is a miniaturized,
fully self-contained pacemaker that delivers the advanced
pacing technology available to patients via a minimally invasive
procedure. This leadless pacemaker is approved for full body
MRI scans and attaches to the heart via small tines; delivering
electrical impulses that pace the heart through an electrode at
the end of the device. The size of a large vitamin and weighing
about the same as a penny, the device received U.S. Food and
Drug Administration (FDA) approval in April 2016.
Robert C. Kowal, MD, PhD, Co-Medical Director of
Electrophysiology for Baylor Hamilton Heart and Vascular
Hospital, was a presenter for the FDA review. Dr. Kowal is one
of the three co-chairs of the worldwide Micra post approval
surveillance and one of the two in the United States. The
device was also awarded CE (Conformité Européenne) Mark
based on results from the Medtronic Micra® TPS Global
Clinical Trial. Commercially available for patients at Baylor
Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital, the cardiologists on
the medical staff are of the few who have been involved since
the inception and are using this implant since approval.
Ablation of Ventricular Arrhythmias Success Rates:
NCDR Q2 2016
32