The Akron Beacon Journal reports about a new procedure for children with Long QT Syndrome:
A researcher has developed a specialized implant procedure to reset uncontrolled heartbeats in children that experts expect to reduce the death rate.
Dr. John Clark of Akron Children’s Hospital developed the experimental procedure in which coils that shock a heart back to normal beating are placed under the skin instead of through veins leading to the organ. Medication has been the only other treatment option for young people.
The implant idea is creative because a child’s small veins can be difficult for threading defibrillator lines toward the heart, Dr. Douglas P. Zipes of Indiana University said Wednesday. He edits Heart Rhythm Journal, which studies advances in treating irregular heartbeat problems.
“I have called this like having an emergency room implanted in your chest because the device does exactly what an emergency room and personnel would do,” monitoring the heartbeat and speeding up a slow rate or normalize an irregular one, Zipes said.
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The under-skin coils could be used as a “bridge” until a youngster grows and the veins are large enough for direct leads through the blood vessels to the heart, Clark said. “We can protect them in the meantime,” he said.
Akron Children’s Hospital’s Pediatric Arrhythmia Center website…
