Dr. Kristin Ellison is an electrophysiologist who performs a technique known as “his bundle pacing.” It amounts to pacing the heart in a way that reduces stress on the overall heart. The stress, commonly referred to as a wobble of the heart, can occur in a certain percentage of patients who receive a more traditional pacemaker procedure.
“The advance in our technology … and the advent of new delivery systems has made it a much more feasible procedure,” said Ellison.
“We can find the sweet spot, or his bundle (of the heart’s electrical system),” she said. “From there, we screw in the lead and when we pace from that lead, the electrical system goes down the specialized wiring tracts of the heart and will activate the heart as I like to say ‘As mother nature does and who does it best.’ It will pace the heart without what is called the wobble-dyssnchrony.”
Ellison said not everyone has a his bundle that can be reached.
“There are certain cases where the (electrical) block is too far out in the electrical system that it can’t be overcome,” she said. “But if the electrical blockage is at or near the his bundle it, the electrical blockage, can be corrected.”
Ellison performed a successful procedure of his bundle pacing recently at King’s Daughters. It is believed she is the only physician in Kentucky performing the procedure. The procedure fits for a patient who has had a weakening in the heart muscle or who has a low normal heart pump function, and it can greatly improve quality of life.
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