Cryoablation

Cryoablation

This article was about a new method in heart care known as cryoablation. This method used by Northern Virginia cardiologists Margaret H. Bell for the first time in the Washington area, includes inserting a thin piece catheter into the heart of the 13 year old athlete, Jonathan Suthard, suffering from a potentially fatal heart arrhythmias. The tip of the catheter is loaded with pressurized frozen nitrous oxide which will freeze the suspected source of Jonathan’s ailment. Unlike the earlier method of cardiac repair which, radio frequency ablation, which used a heat-tipped catheter to destroy the cardiac tissue, this new method is safer in that if the suspected tissue is not the cause of the ailment the tissue can be defrosted leaving it unharmed. Whereas in the radio frequency procedure the tissue is killed by heat leaving swelling and pain. Furthermore if the suspected tissue is not the cause the procedure cannot be reversed. In the case of Jonathan Suthard where his breathing became abnormal, doctors were able to