In order to understand how cardiac rhythm abnormalities occur and how different treatments can be effective, it is firstly important to appreciate how the normal heart works. To put it very simply, the heart has only one function and that is to maintain a continuous and adequate flow of blood around the body. Blood is the vehicle for delivering oxygen and nutrition to all the vital organs. Some organs such as the brain are extremely sensitive to deprivation from oxygen and glucose. If there is a disruption to blood supply for more than a few minutes irreversible damage may occur. The heart is a simple muscular pump that contracts every few seconds. There arefour cardiac chambers andfour major heart valves. Blood flows from the top atrial chambers to the lower ventricular muscular pumping chamber. The heart valves ensure that blood travel in a single direction only. Like many mechanical pumps the heart is controlled by electrical circuitry. An inbuilt pacemaker (sino atrial node) initiates an impulse that sends a wave of electricity over the muscle to make it contract. The impulse is then passed onto a middle relay station (the AV node), this is normally the only thread of connection … Continue reading →

More than six million Americans live with an abnormal (often rapid or irregular) heartbeat called an arrhythmia. NewYork-Presbyterian is a leader in the control of arrhythmias, offering the latest diagnostic techniques and treatments to patients of all ages. Our treatments restore proper heart function and enable you to live a better quality of life by reducing your symptoms. We offer a range of treatment options for arrhythmias, including medication, catheter ablation, implanted devices, and surgery. When you come to us for your care, you benefit from our exceptional expertise in this area. You'll have access to all the experts needed for your care, including cardiologists, heart surgeons, and other specialists with expertise in the care of people with irregular heartbeat. We use the latest electrophysiology tests, heart imaging techniques, and other exams to identify the cause and location of your arrhythmia with precision. This knowledge enables us to put together a customized plan of care designed just for you. We may correct your arrhythmia using medication or catheter ablation, in which we interrupt the path of the abnormal electrical impulses in your heart, curing your arrhythmia. NewYork-Presbyterian is home to one of the largest programs for the implantation of devices … Continue reading →

Interventional radiology Balloon dilatation of the stenosed internal jugular vein (photo from an X-ray angiograph monitor). While pressure in the balloon is relatively low, stenosis prevents the balloon from inflating in the middle. Further increase in pressure will dilate the narrowing and restore the full blood flow. Interventional radiology (IR), sometimes known as vascular and interventional radiology (VIR), is a medical specialty which provides minimally invasive image-guided diagnosis and treatment of disease. Although the range of procedures performed by interventional radiologists is broad, the unifying concept behind these procedures is the application of image guidance and minimally invasive techniques in order to minimize risk to the patient. Training for interventional radiology occurs in the residency portion of medical education, and has gone through developments. In 2000, the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) created a program named "Clinical Pathway in IR", which modified the "Holman Pathway" that was already accepted by the American Board of Radiology to including training in IR; this was accepted by ABR but was not widely adopted. In 2005 SIR proposed and ABR accepted another pathway called "DIRECT (Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology Enhanced Clinical Training) Pathway" to help trainees coming from other specialities learn IR; this too … Continue reading →