Here is a link to the talk we gave in Boulder last month. I am going to miss this group.
Category: ablation
AFib clinic at boulder heart
AFIB Clinic at Boulder Heart – proud to be part of this team!
SBRT for AFIB!!
Stereotactic non-invasive ablation for atrial fibrillation is here! Matter of time before it is widely available. Article link here.
ablation without lifestyle changes
Performing AFIB ablation (substitute any medical intervention for a lifestyle induced disease process here) on a patient without them incorporating lifestyle changes is like the video below. Think about it.
best compliment ever
As a physician one is used to getting compliments from patients when things go according to plan. A few weeks ago, I was floored and humbled by a unique compliment I received from Dave Remington (posted with his permission). He told me “the best thing that happened to me is that my ablation did not…
endurance exercise & AFIB
MODERATION Endurance exercise is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation. I have observed this effect since I started practice in Boulder 15 y ago. I have spent hours with my patients, discussing the role of moderation in exercise. Here is data to support this recommendation. Meden Agan The temple of Apollo at Delphi bore the inscription Meden Agan (μηδὲν…
non-invasive ablation!
Non invasive ablation is where I think the whole field of electrophysiology is going to be in the next 25 years. Maybe, catheter based ablation will still maintain a niche role! Phillip Cuculich and colleagues at Wash U in St. Louis have pioneered this technique. Here is their article in NEJM. In simplistic terms, their…
pulsed field ablation
The most promising AFIB ablation technology this year at HRS meeting. The field of cardiac ablation started with DC ablation, this is a refinement of the technique! During pulsed field ablation (PFA), sub-second electric fields create microscopic pores in cell membranes – a process called electroporation. Among cell types, myocytes have among the lowest thresholds…
leaking roof, rotting timber
ARREST AFIB trial Dr. Dennis Lau from Adelaide, Australia made this analogy at the Heart Rhythm Society meeting in San Francisco. He works with Dr. Prasanthan Sanders’ group. This group published one of the seminal studies regarding lifestyle and AFIB – the ARREST AFIB trial. Lifestyle factors that lead to AFIB are like the leaking…
placebo and sham
Shankar Vedantam did a thought provoking “Hidden Brain” podcast on the placebo effect. Franz Mesmer is the godfather of the placebo effect. He created a lot of “atmosphere” around his sugar pills and since then, the public perception is that the placebo effect is a “New Age” phenomenon and it involves deception. But there is…