Clinical Highlight | Restoring Rhythm: UVA’s Atrial Fibrillation Center Leads the Way in Heart Care

CLINICAL HIGHLIGHT/
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine

Restoring Rhythm: UVA’s Atrial Fibrillation Center

When Bethane Crigger of Wytheville, VA, experienced two frightening prolonged episodes of irregular heartbeat—known as atrial fibrillation (or A-fib)—medications failed to restore a normal heart rhythm. Both times, Crigger underwent electric shocks to the heart. Hoping to prevent a recurrence, Crigger pursued cardiac ablation—a technique to treat abnormal heart rhythms. Several doctors in Southwest Virginia declined to perform the procedure, however, because Crigger was overweight with underlying health problems. UVA electrophysiologist Michael Mangrum, MD, agreed to help.

“We have experience here treating patients with complicated medical histories,” Mangrum explains. “We felt comfortable performing the procedure on Bethane.”

Crigger underwent a catheter ablation in May 2012. Since then, she’s had no additional incidences of A-fib and was able to stop taking heart medications. “I feel like Dr. Mangrum saved my life,” she says. “The ablation made an amazing difference, and now I feel great. I’m 100 percent cured—it’s amazing.”

More than 3,000 patients like Crigger have come from across the U.S. and worldwide for treatment at UVA’s Atrial Fibrillation Center (AFC). A part of the UVA Heart and Vascular Center, the AFC uses the latest equipment and techniques to provide individualized care for A-fib, stroke risk, heart function, and related conditions.

“Our center is focused on atrial fibrillation, so our staff offers unmatched expertise and experience,” Mangrum says. “We have good clinical results and low complication rates, and that’s what attracts patients and referring physicians to our center.”

A-fib—a condition in which the heart’s two upper chambers beat erratically and out of sync with its two lower chambers—is the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm in the U.S. For more than two decades, UVA has been at the forefront of A-fib research and care. In 2004, UVA was the first site to implant an FDA-approved pacemaker for patients with congestive heart failure and A-fib. Recently, Mangrum was the first physician in the U.S. to use the newest type of ablation catheter, which assesses contact inside the heart chamber. UVA is also a major contributor to most clinical trials, offering additional treatment options to patients.

Mangrum and his colleagues hope to revolutionize the understanding and treatment of the condition at the AFC by creating an atrial fibrillation institute that would bring together various disciplines to better understand the causes of A-fib, develop innovative treatments, and assure the best care for patients. Private support is needed to make this program a reality.

“UVA is poised and ready to become the national and international leader in research, education, and comprehensive treatment of atrial fibrillation,” Mangrum says. “We have the expertise, the collaboration, and the clinical foundation to create an institute that will bring together the best minds across the globe to focus on A-fib.”

Reprinted From PULSE (Spring 2014, p. 2)

 

The Atrial Fibrillation Institute at UVA

The Atrial Fibrillation Institute at UVA (AFI) will serve as the world’s leader in understanding the causes and mechanisms of atrial fibrillation and developing effective and permanent treatments. The institute will bring together experts from across various disciplines—cardiology, biomedical engineering, biochemistry, molecular imaging, and others—to focus on this complex and pervasive heart condition.

Setting a New Standard for Care

The AFI will bring together experts across disciplines in order to:

• Advance basic and translational research, research that reaches from the lab to the patient’s bedside.
• Build a broad collaboration on clinical research—studies that have a direct and immediate impact on patient care.
• Provide comprehensive care (outpatient, inpatient, laboratory) and a state-of-the-art laboratory to offer the most innovative therapies.
• Educate and train practitioners (fellows-in-training, physicians, and others).
• Enhance efforts to educate patients and help them manage their conditions through various media, including websites, new smart phone apps that can record the heart’s rhythm, and other print and electronic media.
• Strengthen partnerships and collaborations with other hospitals and teams to champion best practices for A-fib at the international level.

Atrial fibrillation impacts the lives of millions of individuals across the U.S. and around the world—and that number will continue to grow. At the University of Virginia, we have the expertise, the collaboration, and the clinical foundation to create an institute that will bring together the best minds across the globe to focus on A-fib.

(From UVA Health Foundation page: http://healthfoundation.virginia.edu/atrial-fibrillation-institute-uva)

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