Arrhythmia Treatments

Our heart devices include:

• Pacemaker: Your doctor implants this device under your skin to return your heart to a normal rhythm. We offer wireless and wired pacemakers, including Micra®, the world's smallest wire-free pacemaker.
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD): Similar to pacemakers, ICDs detect an abnormal heart rhythm and send a shock to restore it to normal. We were the first in southeast Virginia to offer S-ICD, a subcutaneous device that goes under the skin to detect and correct an abnormal heartbeat.
• Loop Recorders: We implant this small device near your heart underneath your skin. It will capture information about your heart’s activity. The information will assist your doctor in developing your treatment plan.

Sentara is one of just a few healthcare systems in the world specializing in lead extractions, a complex procedure. Leads are wires connecting a heart device's computer to your heart. Doctors may need to remove leads if a rare complication occurs.

Doctors may use heat (radiofrequency) or extreme cold (cryoablation) to destroy small sections of your heart tissue that produce irregular rhythms. They access your heart by inserting a catheter (thin, flexible tube) through an artery in your groin and threading the catheter to your heart. They use 3D mapping to deliver treatment to the areas causing your arrhythmia.

When a heart rhythm disturbance occurs on the outside surface of your heart ventricles, open-chest surgery is the standard approach. But at Sentara, our doctors use minimally invasive techniques. Using 3D mapping, they insert a catheter (thin tube) near your ribcage into tissue around your heart. They then continue with catheter ablation.

Sometimes scarring makes it hard to access the right spot on your heart to help fix it. In these cases, our highly skilled surgeons create an opening at the bottom of your ribcage. Then our electrophysiologists perform epicardial ablation. Only a few medical centers nationwide offer this procedure.

Because we've participated in clinical trials for years, we have expertise performing this minimally invasive procedure.

Our doctors surgically implant a small, permanent device by first inserting a flexible tube (catheter) into your leg and up to your heart’s right chamber. Next, they make a small hole to reach your heart's left atrial appendage (LAA). They use the device to seal off your LAA. As a result, clots possibly caused by A-fib can’t get into your bloodstream and cause stroke.

This open-chest procedure treats people who have A-fib and also need a heart valve procedure or coronary artery bypass graft.

Using ablation, your doctor cuts patterns into your heart tissue. The patterns create scar tissue that blocks your irregular electrical impulses and corrects your abnormal heartbeat. Then your doctor repairs or replaces your diseased valve.

Our surgeons routinely participate in clinical trials. Please learn more at Sentara Health Research Center.

Vascular Care and Surgery

Call 1-800-SENTARA (1-800-736-8272) to learn more.