Pulsed Field Ablation

Doylestown Health’s Woodall Center for Heart and Vascular Care offers the very latest in Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) technology to treat atrial fibrillation (AFib) and other heart rhythm disorders (atrial flutter). Our electrophysiologists (heart rhythm experts) will determine the right treatment method for your unique needs.

What is Pulsed Field Ablation?

Pulsed Field Ablation is a cardiac ablation system used to treat a spectrum of heart rhythm disorders. Studies show that this next-level treatment safely eliminates abnormal electrical signals that cause an erratic heartbeat without damaging surrounding tissue.

Also known as an irregular heartbeat or arrhythmia, AFib affects over 59 million people worldwide. AFib occurs when abnormal electrical signals cause the upper chambers of your heart to beat irregularly. This affects blood flow through your heart and can lead to serious health complications, including stroke, without early intervention.

Atrial flutter is a heart rhythm abnormality that causes the upper chambers of the heart to beat too fast and irregularly. It's a type of arrhythmia, or abnormal heart rhythm. 

How Does Pulsed Field Ablation Work?

During this minimally invasive procedure, your electrophysiologist delivers pulsed electric fields (energy) through a catheter to interrupt electrical pathways in your heart that trigger atrial fibrillation. The pulses of energy create a lesion, which blocks the faulty signals because the scarred tissue does not conduct electricity.

Traditional forms of ablation use heating or cooling methods to scar the heart tissue. Pulsed Field Ablation uses a nonthermal approach and targets heart tissue without damaging the surrounding tissue in the esophagus, aorta, and lungs.

Doylestown Health offers both pulsed field ablation and the latest technology, which allows the electrophysiologist to alternate between pulsed field and radio frequency ablation during the procedure through the use of a single catheter. This new technology results in shorter procedure times and reduced time under anesthesia. The combination of pulsed field and radio frequency ablation is especially suited to patients who have had unsuccessful ablations in the past, or those with atrial flutter.

During both processes, the heart continues to beat, and therefore cardiopulmonary bypass is not required, resulting in shorter recovery times for patients.