{"id":130784,"date":"2024-05-18T10:59:43","date_gmt":"2024-05-18T14:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=130784"},"modified":"2024-05-18T10:59:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-18T14:59:43","slug":"st-lukes-first-to-offer-new-pulsed-field-ablation-for-atrial-fibrillation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=130784","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke\u2019s First to Offer New Pulsed Field Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Image provided to TVL by St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/span><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN)<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

St. Luke\u2019s cardiac electrophysiology team is first in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania to offer Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA), a new and improved treatment for atrial fibrillation (afib). This common heart rhythm disorder affects nearly 40 million people worldwide and, if not treated, can cause the formation of blood clots or a stroke and congestive heart failure.<\/p>\n

The first PFA cases\u00a0in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania were performed on May 6\u00a0at the St Luke\u2019s University Hospital\u00a0Bethlehem Campus. As of mid-May, the team has completed 10 of these procedures. This\u00a0technology also is available in select major heart centers in New Jersey, New York and throughout the nation.<\/p>\n

Retired basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was diagnosed with afib after experiencing lightheadedness, weakness and an accelerated and disorganized heartbeat and last year started a campaign to raise awareness of afib. Advanced age, obesity, sleep apnea, alcohol use, heart valve disorders and heart failure put people at a high risk for developing atrial fibrillation.\u00a0\u00a0Other famous people whose atrial fibrillation is public knowledge include Presidents George Bush and Joe Biden,\u00a0Boston Celtics retired superstar Larry Bird, comedian Howie Mandel and entertainer Barry Manilow. It is a disease that will affect one in five people by the time they turn 80 years old.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, there is hope, as ablation technology has become safer and more effective, and now is recommended first line by the American Heart Association to treat afib. \u00a0The newest technology in ablation is\u00a0Pulsed Field Ablation, which\u00a0is faster, safer and at least as effective than the conventional methods of ablation, which use radiofrequency and cryotherapy (cold temperatures) to remove problematic heart cells. Pulsed Field Ablation is a high-voltage electrical impulse delivered through a catheter through a small needle puncture in the vein the patient\u2019s leg, which renders targeted heart cells, at the top chambers of the heart\u2014the atrium\u2014inert and unable to generate an afib episode.<\/p>\n

According to Steve Stevens, MD, one of five St. Luke\u2019s Cardiologist and Electrophysiologists who perform ablations routinely, \u201cPulsed Field Ablation is a \u2018game changer\u2019 that will eventually become the preferred therapy for afib, because: 1) it is much faster than traditional ablation; 2) it is cardio-selective and doesn\u2019t damage other organs near the heart like the esophagus and lungs, which can happen during conventional ablations; and, 3) it can be done with less invasive anesthesia and monitoring techniques since there is less risk to other organs, making it a safer and a less invasive experience for the patient.\u201d Dr. Stevens estimates that the\u00a0majority of atrial fibrillation ablations\u00a0will\u00a0eventually\u00a0be done with PFA, which received FDA approval in late 2023.<\/p>\n

The St. Luke\u2019s Cardiac Electrophysiologists, Darren Traub, DO; Sudip Nanda, MD; Hardik Mangrolia, MD; Kevin Mills, MD; and Dr. Stevens have trained for over eight years after graduating medical\u00a0school to provide this innovative procedure, among others, and are regional experts in all heart rhythm disturbances.<\/p>\n

A typical Pulsed\u00a0Field Ablation procedure will take just 30- 60 minutes.\u00a0Radiofrequency and Cryoablation take roughly one to three hours explained\u00a0Dr. Stevens. \u201cWe plan to make PFA a same-day procedure in select patients\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cPulsed Field Ablation is an amazing treatment that likely to become the standard of care for afib over the next few years,\u201d he added. \u201cThis is the direction many European centers have been moving in since it was approved there in 2021 and became commercially available.\u201d He added that more than 40,000 patients in Europe have been treated with pulse field ablation, with excellent results.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 350+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s oldest School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 52 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 500 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 10 years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest-cost providers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image provided to TVL by St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network\u00a0(SLUHN) St. Luke\u2019s cardiac electrophysiology team is first in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania to offer Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA), … Continue reading St. Luke\u2019s First to Offer New Pulsed Field Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Ablation-sluhn.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=130784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/130786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}