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Arrhythmia specialists at Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin are experts at treating common and complex electrical disturbances of the heart.
Treatment for an arrhythmia (irregular heart beat) may include:
- Medications or medical management, used to control the heart rate or heart rhythm, or to prevent blood clots.
- Cardioversion, used to treat atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. This brief procedure delivers an electrical shock to the heart to quickly convert an abnormal heart rhythm back to normal. Cardioversion is most often done by delivering an electrical shock via electrodes placed on the chest, but medications can be used, too.
Cardioversion is used in emergencies to correct abnormal rhythms associated with fainting, low blood pressure, chest pain, difficulty breathing or loss of consciousness.
- Catheter ablation or radiofrequency ablation uses bursts of high energy to destroy the source of irregular heartbeats in heart muscle.
- Cryoballoon ablation, a form of catheter ablation that uses cyro, or freezing, energy.
- Surgical ablation, techniques for reorganizing irregular electrical heart impulses by open heart or minimally invasive surgery.
- Implantable devices
- Pacemakers
- Implantable defibrillators
- Bi-ventricular devices and cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)
- Loop recorders
- Laser lead extraction, for safely removing damaged, infected or otherwise problematic pacemaker or defibrillator leads. Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin surgeons and cardiologists can safely perform laser lead extraction surgery using special catheter-guided lasers. A one- or two-night hospital will be required depending on the patient’s condition following laser lead extraction.
Author: Kathy Allen | Medical Reviewer: | Jason Rubenstein, MD |
Last Review Date: April 10, 2012 Online Editor(s): Kathryn Adam |
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