Outside the box: UCLA uses brain aneurysm treatment to stop irregular heart rhythms

For the first time, a UCLA team has used a technique normally employed in treating brain aneurysms to treat severe, life-threatening irregular heart rhythms in two patients.   This unique use of the method helped stop ventricular arrhythmias — which cause "electrical storms" — that originated in the septum, the thick muscle that separates the heart's two ventricles. This area is virtually impossible to reach with conventional treatment.   The research is published in the February issue of Heart Rhythm, the official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society, and is highlighted on the cover.   Many people suffer from ventricular arrhythmias, which are one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., claiming 400,000 lives annually. These arrhythmias can usually be controlled by medications, by implanting a cardioverter defibrillator device that automatically shocks the heart back into normal rhythm, or by a procedure called catheter ablation, which involves a targeted burn or the application of extreme cold to the tiny area of the heart causing the irregular heart beat.   None of these traditional treatments worked for the two patients featured in this report, who suffered from a severe form of arrhythmia called ventricular tachycardia, which causes a dangerous rapid heartbeat.   Instead, the UCLA team of cardiologists and interventional neuro-radiologists used coil embolization, a minimally invasive method originally developed at UCLA and now comm...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news