Sally & Jim Dowdle Electrophysiology Laboratories

Loyola serves as a major regional and national referral center and resource for the treatment of complex heart rhythm problems with expertise and treatment options often unavailable elsewhere. Loyola's Sally & Jim Dowdle Electrophysiology Laboratories provides a 3,500 square-foot facility that includes two dedicated fluoroscope suites equipped with state-of-the-art multichannel digital recording systems, 3-D mapping systems, intracardiac echocardiography and a laser system for lead extraction. The facility also includes additional treatment rooms, observation areas and support space.

The imaging technology and advanced architectural design allow for quick and comfortable access to high quality care for patients suffering from palpitations, rapid or irregular heart rhythms, fainting, and poor exercise tolerance, often brought on by an abnormal heartbeat.

Among the procedures performed at the lab are:

• Cardiac pacemaker implantation and regulation. Pacemakers are used to control the speed of the heartbeat in patients suffering from a variety of conditions that result in an abnormally slow heartbeat. Pacemakers must be monitored and adjusted to ensure they are prompting the heart to adequately meet the body's need for blood in changing situations.
• Cardiac defibrillator implantation. Implanted defibrillators monitor patients' hearts and shock the heart back into a normal beat when irregular heartbeats are detected. Recent research by Wilber and others suggests that thousands of sudden cardiac deaths could be prevented each year if defibrillators were routinely implanted in patients who have had heart attacks and have reduced heart function.
• Catheter ablation. This procedure is used to treat patients suffering from rapid heart rhythms, including supraventricular tachycardia and ventricular tachycardia, with complete cure of the rhythm disturbance in up to 98% of patients. Recently, new techniques, developed in part by physicians at Loyola, have permitted effective treatment of atrial fibrillation, the most common heart rhythm disturbance and previously one of the most difficult to treat. The new procedure completely eliminates AF in about 80 percent of patients, allowing them to give up drugs used to control the condition medically.
• Electrophysiology studies. These studies diagnose the specific type of heart rhythm disturbance, and locate abnormal electrical signals so they can be treated.

In all of these procedures, specialized 3-D imaging equipment is used to place the electrical leads by which implanted devices stimulate the heart, and to guide the catheters used to apply radio wave energy to heart tissue. Among the features of the new facility is a positive air-flow system, which helps prevent infection by ensuring that only filtered air enters the procedure room.

The Device Follow-up Clinic, located adjacent to the laboratories and staffed by three dedicated nurses, provides comprehensive onsite and transtelephonic monitoring and long-term follow-up for patients with pacemakers and defibrillators.

• Directions to the Sally & Jim Dowdle Electrophysiology Laboratories
  
  

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