Journal Articles
Journal Articles: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major public health concern that affects millions of people worldwide. AF is associated with increasing health care costs and a higher risk of stroke with increasing comorbidities and age. Despite well-written guidelines for AF care, standardized management is lacking. Therein lies an opportunity to create AF centers of excellence (AF CoEs) with a patient-centered integrated focus and approach that can benefit patients and health care providers (physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, pharmacists and technologists) alike.
Read MoreImproving Electrophysiology Lab Efficiency: Collaboration With Anesthesiology is Well Worth the Time
Journal Articles: Many of the efforts to improve laboratory efficiency require close collaboration with our colleagues in anesthesia. Osorio et al1 outlined a standardized anesthetic protocol that was designed with the intention of improving effectiveness of lesion formation during AF ablation while also improving efficiency and ensuring patient safety.
Read MoreJournal Articles: Article from Heart Rhythm that explains the process and methods for mapping and ablating the ligament of Marshall. Includes graphics, implications, and when to ablate.
Read MoreJournal Articles: Aim of study is to report the feasibility and safety of AF ablation in an ambulatory setting (Alaska Heart and Vascular Institute). Metrics include procedural complications, postoperative utilization of hospital services, and emergency room utilization.
Read MoreJournal Articles: Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation has evolved enormously thanks to rapid improvement of modern mapping technologies, progress in catheter development and current possibilities for reduction of radiation exposure. Pulmonary vein isolation is thereby the cornerstone in this interventional treatment. Increased precision of catheter localization by modern three-dimensional mapping systems, faster and better processing of local electrograms and their immediate color-based visualization make it possible to treat even challenging arrhythmias very effectively. The commonly used three-dimensional mapping systems CARTO 3 (Biosense Webster, Irvine, Ca.) and Ensite Precision (St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, Min) differ in construction and principles of the underlying mapping technology. In this review article, we aim to emphasize the most important aspects of possibilities that make both systems so valuable for interventional treatment of atrial fibrillation. We present a modern workflow, that unites three-dimensional LA mapping with collecting relevant local information, image integration for refining the map and beneficial use of contact force based ablation approach.
Read MoreBest Practices: Best practices for developing an efficient and quality-focused AF ablation program as part of a larger AF center of excellence, highlighting the experience of a single center and demonstrating how the same principles were adopted to implement a similar program at another institution.
Read MoreJournal Articles: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is increasing in age-adjusted incidence and global prevalence, and it is associated with a number of adverse clinical and fiscal outcomes (Chugh et al, Circulation 2014;129:837, PMID 24345399). While treatment advances have improved clinical outcomes, existing AF care delivery processes typically are fragmented and disconnected. This lack of coordination frequently limits the achievement of high-quality, guideline-directed clinical outcomes (Deshmukh et al, Circulation 2013;128:2104, PMID 24061087).
Read MoreJournal Articles: In this issue of Heart Rhythm Journal, we summarize key publications of relevance to the electrophysiology community regarding the use of system-based processes to improve heart rhythm care and outcomes for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The featured research highlights challenges in improving the rate of guideline-directed anticoagulation to prevent stroke for high-risk patients with AF, including the benefits and limitations of the use of shared decision-making tools. This summary also reports on efforts to identify additional quality indicators to measure AF care and outcomes.
Read MoreJournal Articles: In this issue of Heart Rhythm Journal we continue this quarterly feature highlighting important developments and advances in quality improvement or systems-based practice improvement in the delivery of heart rhythm care. This issue focuses on quality improvement surrounding atrial fibrillation (AF) and highlights some opportunities for measuring, reporting, and improving the quality of heart rhythm care for AF.
Read MoreJournal Articles: In this issue of Heart Rhythm Journal, we present recent publications relevant to quality of care and outcomes, particularly in relation to physician burnout.
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