Non-surgical technique prevents major cause for heart-related stroke

A non-surgical technique used to prevent heart-related stroke was performed by Vivek Y. Reddy, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Cardiac Arrhythmia Service at Mount Sinai Heart, and his colleague, Srinivas R. Dukkipati, MD, Director of Mount Sinai’s Experimental Electrophysiology Laboratory . Two catheters were used to seal the Left Atrial Appendage with a suture loop.  This  technique is a safe alternative to drug therapies such as the blood thinner warfarin (Coumadin). Coumadin can  have serious side effects such as: internal bleeding. Other risky procedures include:  open-heart surgery, and more invasive implant surgery.”

“Compared to a lifetime of medication therapy, or other surgical modalities, a one-time, non-surgical procedure to relieve the complications of AFib offers a whole new paradigm,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, The Mount Sinai Medical Center. “Drs. Reddy and Dukkipati have ushered in a new standard of care for people with this serious cardiac condition.”

Approximately 6 million U.S. adults have been diagnosed with Atial Fibrillation. What is Atrial Fibrillation? It involves  rapid and irregular heart beat where blood can pool at one of the heart chambers causing blood clots  (This happened to my Dad). The result: stroke and/or death.

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