Baylor Medical Center at Irving Uses Magnets to Treat Heart Disorders

Contact: Susan Hall, 214-820-1817
Email: susanh@baylorhealth.edu

(IRVING, Texas, Feb. 23, 2007) -- Treating electrical problems in the heart can be tricky. But using 2-ton magnets and flexible plastic catheters tipped with a small magnet have remarkably changed the way physicians treat cardiac arrhythmias. Electrophysiologists on staff at Baylor Medical Center at Irving use the magnets to lead catheters and wires to precise locations in the heart where they ablate or cauterize the bit of tissue causing the irregular heartbeat.

Combined with a 3-D mapping system, electrophysiologists can record where they've been and return to any position they've visited as they work from a control room adjacent to the catheterization lab, instead of standing over the patient in the cath lab. The clinicians' surgical tools are toggle switches, foot pedals and a computer which control the movement of catheters and wires within patient's cardiovascular system. The magnetic field positions and holds the catheter at one spot, essentially making this a "hands-off" procedure. The magnet-tipped catheter can be moved in 1 millimeter increments or a distance about the thickness of a single credit card.

"Because the heart is always beating, it's hard to move a catheter without bounce," explains Scott Williams, manager of the cardiac catheterization lab at Baylor Medical Center at Irving. "You want to be very precise-you need to get to a certain location and stay there." The technology offers a faster way to deliver the therapy, so the time a patient spends in the procedure is shortened.

Baylor Irving is the first facility in the Dallas Fort Worth area to implement the stereotaxis technology and among the first of 100 hospitals in United States.

People with chronic arrhythmias that were previously untreated by ablation are the primary beneficiaries of this new technology. "Many times when chronic arrhythmia cannot be treated, people have to be on lifelong antiarrhythmic and anticoagulation medicine, and contend with the side effects," says Michael Rothkopf, M.D., a cardiologist on the medical staff at Baylor Irving. "Successful treatment often allows people to remain symptom-free without medication."

Other people who can benefit from the new stereotaxis technology include:

• Electrophysiology disorders, including rapid or slow heart rate
• Cardiac arrhythmias, including tachycardia and atrial fibrillation
• Defibrillator placement
• Cardiac resynchronization devices

People who need angioplasty or cardiac stents placed also may benefit from the new technology, which can help cardiologists reach blockages in blood vessels that were previously unreachable.

Baylor Medical Center at Irving continues to expand its services to meet the community's medical needs, keeping pace with Irving's growth. The not-for-profit, full-service hospital offers advanced health care services in cardiovascular care, orthopaedic surgery, inpatient rehabilitation, general surgery, radiation oncology treatment and emergency medicine. Centrally located on State Highway 183, the 288-bed hospital offers the depth of medical services often found in larger medical facilities. Jim Thaxton serves as president. For fiscal year 2006, Baylor Health Care System will report $406 million in community benefits to the Texas Department of State Health Services.