Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Ablation Consultations and Procedures Now Available at Inova Loudoun Hospital

April 6, 2022 Beginning July 2021, a team of electrophysiologists began performing atrial fibrillation (AFib) ablation procedures at IHVI – Schaufeld Family Heart Center on Inova Loudoun Hospital’s Lansdowne Campus. (L to R): Brett Atwater, MD, Zack Hollis, MD, Vineet Kumar, MD, Chirag Sandesara, MD. (not pictured: Jeff Lee, MD) AFib ablation has become a first-line approach for treatment of certain patients who are relatively young and without significant structural heart disease. The procedure successfully reduces AFib-related symptoms, prevents hospitalizations and improves quality of life in 70 to 94 percent of treated patients. While Inova Loudoun Hospital already had an electrophysiology (EP) lab where relatively low-risk catheter ablations for supraventricular tachycardia were done, more complex procedures requiring left atrial mapping and ablation and ventricular tachycardia ablation were not being performed on the Lansdowne campus, as onsite cardiac surgical backup was not available. Utilizing a system-based approach to patient care, a multidisciplinary team created a highly efficient method to transfer a patient by helicopter or ground transport from Inova Loudoun Hospital’s EP lab to a cardiovascular operating room (CVOR) at IHVI’s Inova Fairfax Medical Campus location in less than 30 minutes should serious complications arise. In this scenario, the EP physician could accompany and manage the patient en route until the patient arrives at the CVOR. Learn More About the IHVI – Schaufeld Family Heart Center