• Press Release

Mount Sinai Physicians First in United States to Perform Cardiac Catheter Ablation Procedure Using Innovative Device

  • (October 04, 2016)

Mount Sinai physicians have become the first in the country to perform cardiac ablation procedures using a new, state-of-the-art catheter.  Vivek Reddy, MD, The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust Professor of Medicine in Cardiac Electrophysiology and his colleagues, Srinivas Dukkipati, MD, Director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory at The Mount Sinai Hospital, and Subbarao Choudry, MD, Assistant Clinical Professor, Cardiology, performed the first and second procedures in the United States with the IntellaNav OI catheter on September 29 and 30.  

The IntellaNav OI, made by Boston Scientific, has both internal and external tip cooling during ablation, now enhanced with IntellaNav magnetic tracking technology for increased accuracy, efficiency and performance during catheter ablation procedures.  Both patients had atypical atrial flutter rhythms that were successfully eliminated with the ablation procedures.  Atrial flutter is an abnormal heart rhythm that occurs in the atria of the heart.

The newly FDA-approved IntellaNav OI catheter features magnetic sensors that track the location of the catheter while delivering radio-frequency energy into the heart muscle, creating heat to destroy a small area of the tissue responsible for the abnormal heart rhythm. The IntellaNav OI catheter provides cooling of the catheter tip to help prevent char and coagulum formation for additional safety and more effective treatment of the arrhythmia within ablation procedures.

"We are committed to offering the latest technologies to treat our patients, and are pleased to be one of the first institutions in the United States to offer the innovative IntellaNav OI,” said Dr. Reddy. “The catheter provides additional safety within ablation procedures and is an important addition to our full suite of services to diagnose and treat a variety of heart rhythm conditions.”

Mount Sinai is a pioneer in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with abnormal heart rhythms. Its electrophysiology department has been leading the development of new arrhythmia technologies since 1909, when one of its physicians became the first in the United States to use an electrocardiogram. Today, the Helmsley Center for Electrophysiology at Mount Sinai, directed by Dr. Reddy, provides the full spectrum of therapies, from procedures that implant devices for regulating heart rhythms (such as pacemakers) to procedures that use catheters for fixing the source of the abnormal heartbeat (called ablations).

In an effort to make ablations safer and more effective, the Center has been the first in the country to use several breakthrough technologies, including a visually guided laser balloon catheter in 2009 and the TactiCath force-sensing catheter in 2011, as well as a new generation of visually guided catheters in 2012. Dr. Reddy was the first physician in the world to use several new ablation techniques to treat atrial fibrillation, such as the cryoballoon catheter and robotic navigation. In addition, in 2014, Dr. Reddy implanted inside a patient's heart the first, innovative, miniature leadless pacemaker in the United States at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

Dr. Reddy is a consultant to Boston Scientific, the manufacturer of the IntellaNav OI.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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