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PrintMedical Reports: Heart GPS
It's a heart-felt problem that millions of people are living with: arrhythmias, a disorder in which the victims have irregular heartbeats. But, as Seven's Richard Lemus shows us, the same GPS technology used to guide your car is now helping doctors repair your heart.
WSVN -- GPS tracking: it guides us to places we can't find when we're in our car. But now that same technology is helping doctors map out the heart.
Dr. Warren Jackman: "It should allow physicians to get access to all of the areas."
Ryan Moore's doctors needed that access. After his heart started racing during a baseball game.
Ryan Moore: "It felt like it was going to jump out of my chest."
It wasn't the excitement of the game but rather a serious condition where the heart beats at dangerously high levels
.Because Ryan's problem was deep within his heart, doctors used a new procedure that combines robotic technology with a global positioning system to map out his heart.
The GPS actually pinpoints the exact trouble spot.
Dr. Warren Jackman: "In a sense it's locating the position in space similar to how GPS works. Instead of taking the signals from a satellite, it took signals from under the table."
The robot then guides a catheter in and destroys the heart tissue that's causing the irregular rhythm. The doctor never has to touch the patient, and there is less chance of piercing the heart.
The new technology worked a miracle for Ryan and his family.
Ryan's parents: "There was much jubilation in that waiting room."
Two weeks later, Ryan is already back to baseball with his heart totally in the game.
The best part of this procedure is that patients and doctors have much less X-ray exposure.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Judy Austin
Office of Dr. Warren Jackman
405-271-9696 ext. 37537
www.ouhsc.edu
Mt. Sinai Medical Center
Physician Referral Service, 305-674-CARE (2273)