Posted by Jack Drum on December 28, 2001 at 09:53:01:
In Reply to: Microwave Maze posted by Jack Drum on December 26, 2001 at 22:02:46:
Here is some more information on the Microwave Maze.
Everyone weigh these postings as you see them. They are more or less PR, but they may also be very correct.
For all the readers that are not yet Alumni members, I hope this is something better that is almost here, but use your own judgement.
The older style maze is a tried and proven procedure.
BW0170 DEC 05,2001 6:00 PACIFIC 09:00 EASTERN
( BW)(CA-SAN-RAMON-REG-MED-CTR)(THC) Bay Area Heart Institute Helps
Pioneer New Microwave Surgery to Correct Common Heart Disease; Procedure
Offers New Hope for Two Million Atrial Fibrillation PatientsBusiness Editors and Health/Medical/High-Tech Writers
SAN RAMON, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Dec. 5, 2001--If you are one of
about two million Americans with an irregular heartbeat known as atrial
fibrillation, the answer may be as familiar as a phone call. Cell phone
call, that is. Doctors at San Ramon Regional Medical Center's Bay Area
Heart Institute are using microwaves -- the same energy that sends
signals to and from cell phones -- in order to restore normal heartbeats
in atrial fibrillation patients.
Atrial fibrillation may cause heart palpitations, chest pain, shortness
of breath, fatigue, dizziness, faintness, and a five times greater risk
of stroke. Recently heart surgeon Murali Dharan, M.D., at San Ramon
Regional Medical Center became the first surgeon on the West Coast to
perform the new AFx microwave treatment on atrial fibrillation patients.In addition, Dr. Dharan is the first surgeon on the West Coast to
perform the AFx microwave treatment on a beating-heart, called minimally
invasive off-pump artery bypass surgery (a procedure performed without
stopping the heart and without placing the patient on a heart-lung
machine).
"Microwave surgery fills a technology gap that's existed for the
approximately two million American atrial fibrillation sufferers," said
Dr. Dharan, a cardiothoracic surgeon. "Previously, the focus was on
trying to manage their disease. Now, we can offer patients the
possibility of a permanent treatment."
San Ramon Regional Medical Center's Director of Cardiology Pramodh
Sidhu, M.D., agrees. "One of my patients, a middle-aged man suffering
from severe shortness of breath as a result of atrial fibrillation,
experienced a successful outcome from the microwave ablation surgery.
His exercise capacity improved greatly, and he was able to go off blood
thinner medication, which I had prescribed to reduce his risk of
stroke," he said.
The new procedure uses a microwave surgery technology developed by
Silicon Valley-based AFx inc. and approved by the Food and Drug
Administration in May 2001. The technology -- consisting of a hand-held
surgeon's "antenna" about the diameter of a lead of pencil -- allows
doctors to treat atrial fibrillation without hooking up patients to
heart-lung machines. "Avoiding the heart-lung machine reduces the trauma
and risk associated with some other heart surgeries," Dr. Dharan
explained.
Although the AFx microwave technology was approved only recently for use
in the U.S., nearly 1,000 AFx procedures have been performed globally
since it was first introduced in Europe in 1999. Many surgeons have
reported successful outcomes.
Atrial fibrillation is an uncontrolled beating or quivering of the
heart's upper chambers due to a breakdown in the heart's electrical
patterns. "By passing the microwave antenna over a heart, the surgeon
can kill bad cells that block the heart's normal electrical pathways.
Once these electrical pathways are restored, the heart can go back to
its normal beating rhythm and the atrial fibrillation goes away," Dr.
Dharan said.
Although microwave surgery has been used on a limited basis for more
than a decade, Dr. Dharan said, "This may be the first use of microwaves
on the heart. Microwaves are viewed as an optimal energy source for
certain surgeries because of their controllability, precision,
versatility and gentleness to patients. With this new microwave surgery
technology, I believe we are on the threshold of a new generation of
medical devices that will treat ordinary diseases with greater precision
for the surgeon and greater gentleness for the patient," Dr. Dharan
said.San Ramon Regional Medical Center, opened in 1990, is a full-service
acute-care hospital with a wide range of inpatient and outpatient
healthcare services, including a 24-hour emergency services, intensive
and cardiac care, and maternity services. Programs include the Bay Area
Heart Institute, Minimally Invasive Surgery, Spine and Joint Program,
Women's Cancer Center, Breast Cancer Care, and Outpatient Surgery
Center. For more information, visit the hospital Web site:
www.sanramonmedctr.com or call 925/275-9200.
San Ramon Regional Medical Center is part of Tenet HealthSystem
(NYSE:THC), which through its subsidiaries, owns and operates 114
acute-care hospitals with 28,166 licensed beds and numerous related
healthcare services. The company employs approximately 110,000 people
serving communities in 17 states and services its hospitals from a
Dallas-based operations center. Tenet can be found on the World Wide Web
at www.tenethealth.com.--30--mcc/sf*
CONTACT: San Ramon Regional Medical Center, San Ramon
Sandra Ryan, 925/275-8365KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA TEXAS
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: BIOTECHNOLOGY CONSUMER/HOUSEHOLD INTERNET
MEDICAL MEDICAL DEVICES PRODUCT
SOURCE: San Ramon Regional Medical CenterSandra Sanfilippo Ryan
Marketing Manager
San Ramon Regional Medical Center
6001 Norris Canyon Road
San Ramon, CA 94583
Office: 925.275-8365Fax: 925-275-9518
Pager: 925-397-7943
E-mail: sandra.ryan@tenethealth.com
I have a picture of the Microwave surgeons wand, but I am having problems getting it on here.Pioneering a "gentle" new category of surgery technology. Approved for surgical use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in May 2001, AFx’s proprietary technology paves the way for what could become a new category in medicine: microwave surgery. The technology – consisting of a tiny microwave antenna inside this foot-long surgeon’s wand – functions as a surgical probe to create lesions in tissue. Microwaves are viewed as an optimal energy source for certain surgeries because of their precision, reach and gentleness to patients.