Cardiac Ablation Therapy at Bassett Healthcare Network

Teeing It Up

For years Frederick Hendricks, of Sprakers, New York, experienced fatigue, shortness of breath and a tightness in his chest while on long walks with his wife and golfing with his son. But he passed cardiac stress tests, and medication failed to control his symptoms.

A Hidden Heart Problem

To solve the mystery, Hendricks’ cardiologist at Bassett Medical Center, Daniel Katz, MD, fitted Hendricks with a heart monitor. With that, Dr. Katz discovered the problem: Hendricks had atrial fibrillation (AFib). AFib is a type of abnormal heart rhythm that can have serious consequences, including cardiac arrest and stroke, if left untreated. Heart disease — including high blood pressure — and certain congenital heart defects predispose people to this condition, and the prevalence of arrhythmias increases with age.

Expert Options

Dr. Katz recommended that Hendricks have cardiac ablation therapy to correct the irregularity. That brought Hendricks to James Storey, MD, a board-certified cardiac electrophysiologist (EP). He and physician assistant Victoria Dow, who together have more than three decades of experience in electrophysiology (which treats disorders of the heart’s electrical system) lead Bassett’s EP program. “Cardiac ablation therapy is a procedure that creates scar tissue inside the heart to help stop the arrhythmias,” explains Dr. Storey. Physicians use radiofrequency current to heat the area of the heart muscle, creating scar tissue that helps stop the arrhythmias.

The Cold Cure

Dr. Storey used a similar procedure, cryoablation, to remedy Hendricks’ irregular heartbeat. Rather than heat, cryoablation uses extreme cold to create the scar tissue and fix the abnormal heart rhythm.

“The benefits of cryoablation are that it is a quicker procedure, there is less destruction to the heart tissue, less discomfort for patients and there are fewer hospitalizations after the procedure and fewer repeat procedures,” Dr. Storey says.

For Hendricks, the benefits of the cryoablation therapy procedure have been life-altering.

“It has changed how I feel about living and...opened up a whole new world in which I can do things again that I never thought I would be able to do,” he says. “Since the surgery, I have cut trees, cleaned our yard and mowed, which I could not do before. I can go up and down the stairs several times. Before, if I went up and down the stairs once, I would need a nap. It has brought my life back to me. It is just a great feeling. Anyone that’s going through what I went through, it can change your life overnight.”