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Eyes on Ontario Hospital as Heart Specialists Demonstrate Groundbreaking Procedure

Southlake Regional Health Centre first to use innovative broadcast technology to raise awareness about new minimally-invasive treatment for irregular heartbeats

Newmarket, Ontario – December 14, 2011 –Heart specialists from across North America and around the world are focusing their attention on a Newmarket hospital, the first in the world to share its expertise of a leading-edge heart procedure via an innovative  Internet-based live broadcast for the benefit of colleagues as well as the general public.

Using the unique live-broadcast platform, Southlake Regional Health Centre is helping to advance medical education by inviting physicians, nurses and technologists – no matter where in the world they happen to be – into its cardiac lab for a virtual first-hand look at innovative cardiac procedures. The technology is considered revolutionary because it enables the online participants to not only see the heart specialists operating in the lab, but to also get a synchronized, high-definition view in real time of the multiple systems used during the procedure, including electrocardiograms, x-rays, ultrasounds, and a range of other images from within the patient.

The first live broadcasts, held earlier this month, were attended by more than 200 medical professionals from across Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Israel, Australia and other parts of the world. During the one-hour live broadcasts, Southlake physicians used new, minimally invasive ways to treat arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat) that significantly improve patient outcomes and recovery times.

“Many general practitioners and specialists have no idea of the leading-edge procedures we do here in Southlake’s cardiac electrophysiology lab and by sharing our expertise with such a wide audience, we’re helping to unravel the mystery that surrounds arrhythmia,” said Dr. Yaariv Khaykin, one of three of the hospital’s cardiologists who participated in the webcasts. “The more healthcare providers we can educate about this technique, the more patients will benefit.”

The procedure demonstrated by Southlake uses new generation radiofrequency (RF) and three-dimensional mapping technology to effectively target and ablate – or burn – areas in heart tissue that cause rhythm problems. Unlike traditional treatment used for atrial fibrillation, the new process allows heart specialists to eliminate abnormal electrical impulses using RF energy. The procedure is proving to be a more effective way to treat patients with common forms of arrhythmia because it means less exposure to x-rays, shorter wait times and speedier recovery times, Dr. Khaykin explained.

According to the Cardiovascular Learning Network, the new interactive broadcast technology used by Southlake’s cardiac lab represents a giant step forward in the medical learning process. During the process, participants from around the world were able to submit questions and receive answers from the Southlake physicians in real-time.

“I found the live broadcast to be extremely useful and practical, and learned a tremendous amount,” said Dr. Stanley Tung, Staff Electrophysiologist at Vancouver-based St Paul's Hospital, a participant in one of the sessions. Tung added that he will apply the knowledge he gained immediately to improve the care of his patients locally.

“This is an excellent way to leverage Southlake’s expertise in performing cutting-edge cardiac procedures and to share our knowledge with colleagues and referring physicians around the world, for the ultimate benefits of patients both across Canada and globally,” said Southlake Chief Executive Officer Dr. Dave Williams, noting that this new technology will enable medical professionals to share and acquire new skills without the burden of travel.

“Treatment for arrhythmia is one area in particular that is rapidly advancing and Southlake has taken a world lead in both using and educating others about the latest procedures,” Dr. Williams said, adding that arrhythmia is a condition that affects an estimated 350,000 Canadians – and millions of people worldwide – and is a leading cause of stroke over the age of 60.

The interactive, Internet-based live-broadcasts were the result of a collaborative effort between Southlake, the Cardiovascular Learning Network® and Stereotaxis, which has developed the Odyssey™ Solution, including the Cinema™ Studio platform, a turn-key solution for hospitals to facilitate high definition remote physician collaboration and global medical education. They are now available for on-demand on-line viewing through the learning network for a period of one year. In the future, the hospital expects to use the innovative technology to remotely guide less experienced cardiac centres performing cardiac ablation procedures for the first time, as well as to demonstrate other innovative procedures used by the hospital.

The Southlake webcasts can be viewed at www.cardiovascularlearningnetwork.com under the heading: Applications of Intracardiac Echocardiography in Electrophysiology.

About Southlake Regional Health Centre (www.southlakeregional.org)

Based in Newmarket, Southlake Regional Health Centre is a full-service hospital with a provincial mandate to deliver advanced diagnostic and treatment services in cancer care, cardiac care, pediatric and perinatal care, child and adolescent eating disorders, and child and adolescent mental health care. It also specializes in arthritis care and thoracic and cataract surgery. Serving more than one million residents of York Region and South Simcoe, Southlake is in the process of transforming to a teaching and research centre. 

About Cardiovascular Learning Network® (www.CardiovascularLearningNetwork.com)

Cardiovascular Learning Network (CVLN) provides CME/CE programming for the full scope of cardiovascular professionals – including clinical and interventional cardiologists, EPs and other cardiac rhythm specialists, cardiac and vascular surgeons, nurses, and technicians – through a variety of live and on-demand educational initiatives. Cardiovascular Learning Network has conducted more than 150 multidisciplinary CME/CE interventions for cardiovascular professionals during the past three years alone, including conferences, satellite symposia, workshops, monographs, and a broad array of multi-media programming.

About Stereotaxis Odyssey™ Solution (www.OdysseyExperience.com)

The Stereotaxis Odyssey Solution is a portfolio of products that provides an innovative solution for integrating, recording and networking interventional lab information within hospitals and around the world. Odyssey Solution captures a complete record of synchronized procedure data that can be viewed live over the Internet or from a comprehensive archive of recorded cases. It enables hospitals to efficiently share live and recorded clinical data anywhere around the world to promote collaboration and attract patients.

Using an innovative, Internet-based platform, Dr. Alfredo Pantano, electrophysiologist interacts simultaneously with viewers from around the world and his Southlake colleagues, as they perform an advanced cardiac procedure at Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket, Ontario.

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