In the fourth quarter of last year, TriStar Summit Medical Center debuted a new system by Boston Scientific to enhance mapping and navigation in treating arrhythmias. The hospital was the first in Middle Tennessee and one of the first in the nation to use the state-of-the-art, high-resolution, 3D Rhythmia Mapping System to perform a cardiac ablation procedure.
Thomas Williams, MD, the electrophysiologist with Centennial Heart at TriStar Summit who first used the new system on Oct. 1, 2015, noted there are certainly other mapping systems commercially available and widely used for such procedures. “Rhythmia is not novel in the end product,” he said. “It’s how it goes about it.”
Williams continued, “Instead of half an hour to an hour to create a functional map, it takes literally just a few minutes. That results in less procedural time and less exposure to fluoroscopy.”
He added the amount of data points the system collects far exceeds other mapping systems and provides a more accurate view of the arrhythmias. “It makes for a more precise map with less error involved due to more data being collected,” Williams noted.
Williams said it isn’t unusual to re-map a patient at the end of the procedure to ensure ablation targets were met and no further course of action would be necessary so the speed of Rhythmia once again factors into decreasing overall procedure time and radiation exposure.
“The system’s fast and detailed high-resolution maps made a tremendous difference in enabling me to quickly diagnose and treat the source of the patient’s arrhythmias, as well as efficiently confirm the success of the procedure,” Williams recalled of using the new system for the first time.
Since then, Williams said he has used Rhythmia more than 15 times with successful results and has been very pleased with the accuracy and clarity of the technology.
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