La Candelaria Hospital uses the most modern technology to treat atrial fibrillation.

The center is the only one in the Canary Islands that uses pulsed ablation to treat the most common arrhythmias.

This pathology responds to an arrhythmia, which is characterized by a rapid and irregular heartbeat and can cause complications such as heart failure and strokes.

The University Hospital Nuestra Señora de Candelaria, a center of the Department of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, presented today, Friday, February 16, at a press conference, a new pulsed ablation (PFA) technology for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), considered the most common arrhythmia . This makes it the first center in the Canary Islands to use it.

By implementing PFA, the hospital is strengthening its ability to effectively treat patients with AF, promoting better waitlist management and reaffirming its commitment to excellence in care and innovation.

There are currently five interventions using this modern interventional technique, performed in only 16 hospital centers across the country, representing an important advance in the treatment of atrial fibrillation in patients scheduled for surgery.

This method can be used in patients aged 50 to 70 years, with a slightly higher prevalence in men than women, since they are the ones most affected by atrial fibrillation. It is considered when they continue to have symptoms and treatment does not help.

This pathology responds to an arrhythmia, which is characterized by a rapid and irregular heartbeat and can cause complications such as heart failure and strokes.

PFA is used when traditional treatments are ineffective. This advanced technique uses electric fields to treat cardiac tissue, allowing for selective tissue ablation, focusing only on the cardiac cells that need to be treated. This allows you to avoid disturbing or damaging other important surrounding tissues.

Although long-term results are similar to those of techniques such as cryoablation and radiofrequency therapy that are commonly used, the advantages of PFA in terms of the speed and safety of the procedure allow us to improve both the patient experience and hospital management. Thus, there is no postoperative pain, which allows you to be discharged a few hours after the procedure.

Two methods have previously been used: radiofrequency ablation, in which a wire is inserted through veins into the heart, where heat is emitted to eliminate the piece of tissue causing the problem; or cryoablation, where a balloon is used to freeze the patient’s damaged tissue, similar to ablation.

Associated with aging

Atrial fibrillation is the most common persistent cardiac arrhythmia and its increase is associated with the aging population.

It is a change in the normal conduction of the heart, causing the atria to not contract properly and the ventricles to contract irregularly and too quickly, preventing the heart from functioning properly.

Although it can occur in the heart without preexisting pathology, it usually occurs in people with heart pathology associated with other diseases such as high blood pressure or lung disease, among others.