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Southlake’s Arrhythmia Program introduces Pulmonary Vein Isolation and CARTO mapping procedures

Newmarket, Ontario January 2004 - Utilizing some of the world’s most sophisticated technologies, Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket has further enhanced the scope of its Regional Cardiac Care Program by offering CARTO mapping and pulmonary vein isolations to patients in York Region, Simcoe County and Muskoka who are suffering from abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias.

Dr. Zaev Wulffhart, Director of Arrhythmia Services performed the first CARTO mapping procedure on January 29. The newly acquired mapping technology produces a multi-coloured three-dimensional image that illustrates electrical signals passing through the heart from the source of an arrhythmia. Dr. Wulffhart was therefore able to precisely locate and ablate the abnormal cells causing the arrhythmia. For his 38-year-old patient, this treatment provided a cure to a condition that had become severely life altering and had not previously responded to conventional treatments.

The arrhythmia program also recently performed the hospital’s first pulmonary vein isolation procedure for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Performed by Dr. Yaariv Khaykin, who has completed his electrophysiology training at The Cleveland Clinic, this procedure utilizes intracardiac ultrasound (echocardiography) to guide the ablation procedure in isolating the electrical activity originating in the pulmonary veins, which causes the heart to beat erratically (atrial fibrillation).

“Access to these technologies is limited in Canada,” stated Dr. Wulffhart.

“For Southlake to be the first non university hospital in the country to offer these procedures confirms the Hospital’s commitment to leading edge cardiac care.”

Southlake’s arrhythmia program expects to perform two to four CARTO mapping procedures a month.

CARTO mapping technology can also be used to perform pulmonary vein isolations. In this regard, Drs. Wulffhart and Khaykin will be collaborating with The Cleveland Clinic to research which technique is most effective for performing pulmonary vein isolation procedures.

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