Treatments
When you have atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, or other forms of arrhythmia, prompt treatment is key to your heart health.
Medications
Slow your heart rate, stabilize irregular heartbeats, and reduce the effects and risks of an abnormal heartbeat. Blood-thinning (anticoagulants) medications may be prescribed to reduce stroke risk following atrial fibrillation. Two of the three newer anticoagulants were studied at Duke, which gives us the knowledge and expertise to reduce stroke risk in people with atrial fibrillation while minimizing potential bleeding complications.
Catheter Ablation
A minimally invasive procedure that uses energy to cauterize the exact heart regions where irregular heartbeats originate. We perform the full range of standard and investigational ablation techniques in our four catheterization labs.
Surgical Ablation
Performed through incisions in the chest. Often offered with other heart surgeries such as coronary bypass surgery or surgery to repair leaky or narrowed heart valves.
Lead Extraction for Implanted Cardiac Devices
Leads from implanted devices that malfunction, fracture, or are linked to infection are removed by electrophysiologists and surgeons who work together in our hybrid operating rooms. As a result of our experience, nearly 95 percent of leads are removed without open heart surgery.
Implanted Cardiac Devices
Stimulate and reset your heart's rhythm. We implant more than 1,000 pacemakers, defibrillators, and arrhythmia management systems annually. Many times we use a nonsurgical approach, during which leads are inserted into the heart through a vein under the collarbone, to minimize risk and shorten recovery time.
Left Atrial Appendage Closure Devices
Newly approved devices are implanted during a minimally invasive procedure to close off or block the area of the heart where blood clots that cause stroke are most likely to form.