Heart procedures safer with new robotic lab
Our Schulich Heart Centre has opened Toronto's first robotic arrhythmia invasive lab where patients with irregular heartbeats can receive minimally invasive treatment to restore normal heart function.
The new lab is home to a cutting-edge system from Stereotaxis that uses computerized, magnet-guided technology to enhance the precision and safety of heart procedures. It is one of only three such suites in Canada.
Cardiac arrhythmias occur when the electricity that flows through the heart to trigger the pumping action "short circuits" or gets blocked, disturbing the heart's normal rhythm and potentially leading to heart attack and/or stroke.
Symptoms may include:
- Heart palpitations
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Chest pain
- Shortness of breath
The goal of treatment is to ablate – or destroy – damaged heart tissue that causes the electrical malfunction and restore a regular heart rhythm.
During a procedure in the robotic arrhythmia invasive suite, powerful magnets are positioned near the patient while a cardiologist operates the system from an adjoining control room, outside of the x-ray field.
The sophisticated GPS technology maps a pathway through a patient's blood vessels and heart to the diseased heart tissue, and the magnets lead a soft catheter gently along this pathway by guiding its magnetic tip.
Benefits to patients include:
- Reduced likelihood of referral to more invasive procedures
- Reduced exposure to x-ray radiation for patients and medical staff
- Reduced contrast dyes injected into patient's blood vessels during procedures
- Reduced risk of major complications from perforation of blood vessels or heart tissue
The new suite is part of a $25 million redevelopment project to create a world-class, technologically advanced Schulich Heart Centre.
