Heart Center
Electrophysiology
Primary Children’s Hospital is home to one of the busiest pediatric electrophysiology centers in the West, and has the only pediatric interventional electrophysiologists in Utah, Iowa, and Wyoming. Our specialty clinic is made up of experienced, leading experts with accomplished knowledge of the unique challenges posed by children and young adults with these serious conditions.
We perform more than 200 pediatric cardiac ablations every year, which makes our hospital a high volume center for this complex specialty. Patients come to Primary Children’s from the intermountain west and beyond due to the high level of expertise, specialized procedures, excellent outcomes, and high value care provided by our team.
Currently our physicians train other electrophysiologists from around the country to perform radiation-free electrophysiology studies and ablations, and we are the first pediatric center in the nation to have a new 3-D mapping system that uses GPS technology to reduce radiation exposure during procedures. We are also a leading center in the area of inherited arrhythmia research including close collaboration with colleagues in adult electrophysiology and genetics. We have four pediatric electrophysiologists that are board certified in Pediatric Cardiology, and have completed additional fellowships in heart rhythm disorders in children and congenital heart disease.
Our specialists are experts in the treatment of:
- Abnormal fast heart rhythms (tachyarrhythmias) in infants and children including Wolff Parkinson White syndrome
- Abnormal fast heart rhythms (tachyarrhythmias) in complex congenital heart disease in children and adults
- Abnormal slow heart rhythms (bradyarrhythmias) in infants and children
- Abnormal slow heart rhythms (bradyarrhythmias) in complex congenital heart disease in children and adults
- Treatment of inheritable arrhythmias in children and adults
- Prevention of sudden cardiac death
MediGuide GPS Technology
MediGuide Technology provides significant benefits especially during longer interventions or examinations in the cath lab. The cardiologist no longer has to take fluoroscopic images of the patient each time the
catheter is re-positioned, as is the case with other current technology. As a result, less radiation and less contrast agent use is expected.
By means of magnetic targeting, MediGuide locates the catheter during cardiac interventions and projects its precise position in real-time on a previously acquired fluoroscopy image of the patient. Navigation with the MediGuide Technology utilizes a special electromagnetic tracking procedure to determine the position of medical devices during minimally-invasive interventions.
During the intervention, a miniaturized sensor integrated into the catheter can be located by receiving electromagnetic positioning signals from the MediGuide transmitters, which are incorporated into the detector housing. The MediGuide Technology then calculates the respective position and orientation of the catheter and displays it in real-time on fluoroscopic images of the patient that were recorded earlier.
