| While cardiovascular disease
primarily affects blood flow, cardiac electrophysiology
(EP) involves the study of electrical abnormalities
of the heart. Congenital problems or diseased
tissue in the heart can affect the electrical
conduction leading to an irregular heart beat,
including atrial fibrillation(AF)1.
In this disease, the two upper chambers of the
heart, the atria, do not beat efficiently and
blood is not pumped completely out of them, so
it may pool and clot. If a part of the clot leaves
the heart, it may cause a stroke or a pulmonary
embolism. Over 2.2 million Americans suffer from
atrial fibrillation, which causes about 15% of
strokes. Atrial fibrillation is often treated
with drugs to slow the associated rapid heart
rate. Some drugs can restore the normal heart
rhythm.
The anomalous electrical conduction can be cured
by ablating certain areas of tissue with radiofrequency
energy. This can permanently restore the normal
heart rhythm. In cardiac electrophysiology, the
heart tissue is mapped to find the areas of abnormal
electrical activity, and ablated to kill the tissue
in certain areas. This procedure is commonly referred
to as “mapping and zapping.” In the
U.S., 25%2 of catheterization lab sites
have a dedicated electrophysiology room. As of
2002, 17% of cardiac catheterization systems purchased
were dual-use – used for both EP and cardiac
catheterization procedures.
The procedures to locate and ablate the appropriate
areas of tissue are extremely lengthy. A patient
may spend 3-6 hours in the cardiac catheterization
lab, which may include up to 90 minutes of imaging
time. The patient receives significant amounts
of x-rays – up to an equivalent of 30,000
chest x-rays, and the electrophysiologist doing
the procedures also receives a considerable dose
of scattered radiation. Electrophysiology diagnosis
and treatment does not require the injection of
contrast agent into the coronary arteries to produce
detailed angiograms and therefore requires somewhat
lower imaging capability. The long procedure times
place a high value on radiation exposure reduction.
The NovaRay ScanCath
EP system is designed to be very attractive
to patients and doctors with its 10X lower radiation
for patients and 5X lower radiation for doctors.
NovaRay is initially targeting this dual use market.
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1 American Heart Association
2 IMV 2003 Cath Lab Census
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