Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have used a HeartLight Endoscopic Ablation System (EAS) from CardioFocus (Marlborough, MA, USA) for the first time to correct abnormal electrical signals inside the heart of a patient affected by atrial fibrillation (AFib).
Dr Vivek Y. Reddy, Professor of Cardiology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, performed the successful procedure on the first patient on Valentine's Day.
The new balloon catheter device used by the Mount Sinai Heart team features a built-in camera that allows the physicians to directly see the heart tissue that needs to be ablated. They can then guide an internal laser in a continuous arc around the origin of the vein, creating more uniform scar tissue.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Investigational Device Exemption approval for HeartLight EAS in December, and the device is already in use in Europe.
-- by Dave Wilson, Senior Editor, Vision Systems Design
