SMH Cardiac Team Combines Two Innovative Therapies to Treat AFib

October 2, 2024 | Sarasota

Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s cardiac team is among the first in the nation combining two innovative therapies (outside of a clinical trial) to treat irregular heartbeats and reduce stroke risks associated with atrial fibrillation (AF).

On Tuesday, five SMH patients with AF-related heart rhythm disorders underwent simultaneous pulsed field ablation to treat heart rhythm disorders and implantation of the Watchman device, a drug-free alternative to reduce the risk of stroke.

While both treatments have been approved separately by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the dual treatment option only became commercially available today following new payment guidelines approved by the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS).

“The new guidelines offer significant benefits to our patients by allowing us to perform two equally important treatments during a single cardiac catheterization,” said Heart Specialists of Sarasota electrophysiologist Robert Eckart, MD, who performed the first five same-day procedures at SMH today. “Now, we can quickly address our patients’ debilitating heart rhythm disorders and the heightened risk of stroke they face, during the same procedure, without further delays in care or long-term drug therapy.”

The combination therapy, which takes less than an hour, is performed during a minimally invasive cardiac catheterization procedure. Each of the five patients treated at SMH received pulsed field ablation, a newer form of cardiac ablation that uses non-thermal energy to safely destroy tissue in the heart triggering the irregular heartbeats and heart rhythm disorders. Afterward, the team implanted a Watchman device to close the left atrial appendage, an area of the heart known to release potentially deadly blood clots. The Watchman device has been approved and used for nearly 10 years to reduce AF patients’ stroke risks and provide an alternative to long-term anticoagulation therapy with blood thinner medications.

AF is a progressive condition that affects more than 59 million people worldwide. Without early intervention, the condition can worsen over time, increasing the risk for stroke, heart failure and death. All five SMH patients were recovering smoothly at the end of the day and expected to be discharged within 24 hours.