Canada: Apply cooling technique to heart surgery

The team at the Heart Institute of Montreal (Canada) has succeeded in first using cooling techniques for heart surgery for a woman with atrial fibrillation. This is a common form of arrhythmia with a high risk of death.

(Photo: HTV) A 56-year-old female patient from Repentigny, who has been suffering from cardiac arrhythmia for many years and whose treatment has not worked.

Doctors decided to apply cooling techniques instead of heating to heart surgery. They inserted a catheter into some of the patient's veins so that a chiller could circulate in the balloon, using the cold to remove all the arrhythmias.

This surgery has enabled patients to be treated more quickly and effectively thanks to the technique of removing 360 degrees around the veins instead of aiming at each point as in the case of heat ablation. This new technique has reduced the risks of complications as well as relapse.

The group of surgeons is led by Dr. Peter Guerra, Dean of the Department of Electrophysiology and Dr. Marc Dubuc, Department of Cardiology.

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