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For more information, contact Bob Beard at 434-982-4490. September 1, 2004 NEW PACEMAKER APPROVED BY FDA MAKES NATIONAL DEBUT AT UVa HEALTH SYSTEM |
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Mary Jo Crisman of Edinburg, Va. has a tough job as office manager of the Farmer’s Livestock Exchange in Winchester – the largest livestock market in the Shenandoah Valley. She also faces a tough personal challenge. Two heart conditions, cardiomyopathy and atrial fibrillation (A-fib), leave her exhausted, full of fluid, and sometimes depressed. Now, Mary Jo says she is breathing easier, and some of the fluid is gone, thanks to the expertise of cardiologists at the University of Virginia Health System. At U.Va., Mary Jo became the first patient in the U.S. to receive the latest pacemaker approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat patients with both A-fib and heart failure – the Frontier II, manufactured by St. Jude Medical of St. Paul, Minn. She was back at work two days later. Patients receiving the Frontier II must first undergo a procedure to control atrial fibrillation called cardiac ablation, in which a catheter is threaded from the groin to the heart. Part of the heart muscle, called the AV node, is burned with electrical energy, slowing the heart’s rate. “The nodal ablation procedure combined with the sophisticated pacing technology in this new device may enhance the lives of thousands of patients with cardiomyopathies and atrial fibrillation,” said Dr. J. Michael Mangrum, assistant professor of internal medicine and director of the Atrial Fibrillation Center at U.Va., who performed the ablation on Mary Jo’s heart and implanted her new pacemaker. “This device paces, or synchronizes, both right and left ventricles of the heart simultaneously. Pacing the right ventricle alone can worsen heart failure in patients like Ms. Crisman,” Mangrum said. “U.Va.’s Atrial Fibrillation Center is a worldwide leader in the research and development of techniques to treat A-fib and heart failure. We are proud that St. Jude Medical chose U.Va. as the site for the first U.S. implant of its latest biventricular device.” Cardiomyopathy causes an enlarged heart that does not work efficiently. Atrial fibrillation causes the top chambers of the heart, the atria, to quiver at a high rate. About 2.2 million people in the U.S suffer from atrial fibrillation, according to the American Heart Association, making it the most common type of abnormal heart rhythm. There are 160,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Symptoms can last for days and usually include:
A-fib is associated with a two-fold increase in mortality. The condition can also cause strokes from blood clots dislodging from the atrium and traveling to the brain. U.Va. was among the first academic medical centers in the U.S. to perform a special type of cardiac ablation to eliminate A-fib. Over 100 of these special procedures were performed at U.Va. in 2003. Other treatments for A-fib are medications, implantable devices and surgery. For more information on the Frontier II device go to www.sjm.com or the FDA’s website at www.fda.gov. ### |