Our Mission: The Electrophysiology Service at Advanced Heart Care believes in providing compassionate, evidence-based, and comprehensive heart rhythm management that is tailored to a patient’s conditions, expectations, and symptoms. We take tremendous pride in listening carefully, emphatically, and completely to the concerns and questions of our patients with an ear towards truly understanding the overall picture. We believe that the best decisions never are made alone and we take great strides to confer with both primary and sub-specialty providers to meet our patients’ needs. We commit ourselves to providing care for our patients’ heart rhythm conditions with an emphasis on detail, quality of life, longevity, and above all, safe outcomes. We embrace the privilege of being on a patient’s health care provider team with the utmost care and sense of responsibility.
Cardiac Electrophysiologists (or Heart Rhythm Specialists) are cardiologists who specialize in the electrical system of the heart. Heart rhythm abnormalities can be properly diagnosed and treated after a thorough medical history and non-invasive procedures by our highly skilled Heart Rhythm Specialists. Once the electrical disorder is diagnosed, we will work with your doctor to determine the risk of the heart rhythm abnormality and recommend treatment. Together with your heart arrhythmia specialist, you will decide on the most appropriate treatment for you.
To be evaluated for an abnormal heart rhythm, one of our physicians will first examine you and if necessary, you may be asked to undergo one or more of the following tests:
- An electrocardiogram (called ECG or EKG), records your heart’s electrical activity during rest to determining abnormal rhythms.
- An echocardiogram (also called an echo), a type of ultrasound test.
- A Holter monitor to record your heart’s activity during a 24-hour period or longer. Small sensors applied to your skin are connected to a small recording device that is strapped or belted to your body. This is useful for detecting abnormalities that may not occur during an electrocardiogram.
- An event monitor, which records the heart rhythm only when activated and is usually worn for about a month.
- An exercise stress test also known as treadmill tests, help determine irregular heart rhythms during exercise. During this test, the heart’s electrical activity is monitored through small metal sensors applied to your skin while you exercise on a stationary bicycle or treadmill.
- A tilt table test may be in order if you experience lightheadedness or fainting. You will be placed on a table that starts in a horizontal position and is then tilted upward at different angles while your heart rate and blood pressure are measured.
Based on your diagnostic exam and test results, our Heart Rhythm Specialists will work with you to develop a treatment plan, which may include:
- Lifestyle changes
- Managing electrical abnormalities with medication
- Using radio wave energy to destroy specific areas of the heart causing abnormal rhythm (Minimally-Invasive Radiofrequency Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation)
- Implanting a pacemaker that triggers the heart if it is beating too slowly
- Implanting a defibrillator to keep the heart from beating too rapidly (Implantable Cardiac Defibrillators)
Continued follow-up to ensure your goals are met is an ongoing part of the process.
To learn more about heart rhythm abnormalities, symptoms, treatments and much more visit Heart Rhythm Society.