PHOENIX, Ariz. (Sept. 21, 2020) – HonorHealth, a leading Valley healthcare system serving 1.6 million people in the greater Phoenix area, announced today that its Cardiovascular Center of Excellence is offering a new technology for patients undergoing cardiac ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation (AFib).
AFib is the most common type of heart arrhythmia, can cause debilitating symptoms and is a leading cause of stroke. HonorHealth’s Rahul Doshi, MD, FHRS, FACC, chief of complex arrhythmia management, became the first electrophysiologist in Arizona to use the first vessel closure technology designed for electrophysiology procedures, including AFib.
“Many of these patients are candidates for ablation procedures, in which catheters are placed in the heart via large veins in the body to eliminate the areas that cause the arrhythmia,” said Dr. Doshi. “Technology to reduce bleeding from the veins while allowing patients to get out of bed sooner with less discomfort and go home earlier translate to better outcomes for patients as well as improve hospital workflow efficiency.”
The pre-market- approved technology by the FDA uses a simple and proprietary delivery system to place a collagen patch on the outside of each vessel puncture site following completion of the procedure. The system works by placing a small, collapsible mesh disc against the inside of the vessel wall to temporarily stop the bleeding, releasing a collagen patch into the tissue tract and then removing the mesh disc. The collagen patch expands, providing a mechanical and physiological seal to stop the bleeding, and then absorbs into the body. Nothing is left behind inside the vessel, and the collagen outside the vessel wall is resorbed in a short period of time enabling access for future procedures.
“With the recent integration of this new technology, we intend to help patients get back on their feet as quickly and comfortably as possible following an ablation” said Dr. Doshi. This technology is just one example of how HonorHealth is getting patients home safer, sooner, most often assisting patients home the very same day as their procedure.