Cardiac ablation is a technique that prevents abnormal heart rhythms by scarring or destroying the tissue that allows those signals to pass.
It is a new technique, only recently approved by the FDA as a treatment for the three million patients in the U.S. who experience persistent atrial fibrilation (AF).
In October of 2017, the FDA approved the imaging and mapping system, AcQMap® High Resolution Imaging and Mapping System and the 3D Imaging and Mapping Catheter, to use on AF patients. Pasquale Santangeli, an assistant professor of Cardiovascular Medicine, performed the procedure for the first time since FDA approval.
With the ability to refine mapping the heart regions to make more angles visible and with better resolution, the success rate for the procedure on patients with AF has the potential to increase from more than half to 75 percent. By measuring the effects of ablation in real time during the procedure with high-resolution mapping, doctors are able to pinpoint the precise areas of the heart that cause arrythmia.
Read more about the procedure at Penn Medicine News.
