Two Hearts Beating Regularly

Atrial fibrillation is a serious condition—it causes the heart’s top chambers (atria) to quiver and beat more frequently than the bottom chambers, raising the risk for blood clots and stroke.

Edward Diefenderfer of White Haven

But atrial fibrillation is readily treatable with today’s new surgery and electrophysiology techniques, as these two local people discovered…

‘I’m firing on all cylinders again’
Edward Diefenderfer of White Haven can fix anything with an engine, but his own heart was giving him trouble. He controlled his atrial fibrillation with medication as long as he could. When drugs became ineffective, his cardiologist referred him to cardiothoracic surgeon James Wu, M.D., for a new procedure called mini-Maze.

The Maze procedure uses a radiofrequency device to create scars in a maze pattern around the atria, to redirect the heart’s electrical
signals and correct the heartbeat. Until now, the surgery involved a large incision and heart-lung bypass machine. That’s not the case with mini-Maze. Diefenderfer had just two small incisions and was home in three days.

‘This treatment has greatly improved my life’
Patricia Nicholl of Quakertown hops on a plane to California or Wisconsin when she wants to see her children, but for three years it wasn’t that easy. She was grounded by atrial fibrillation. “I was tired and short of breath all the time,” she says.

When medicine didn’t control the problem, her doctor sent her to electrophysiologist (heart rhythm specialist) Vadim Levin, M.D. He and his partner, Sultan Siddique, M.D., located the source of Nicholl’s arrhythmia, then delivered a series of radiofrequency impulses to permanently cure the condition. Called cardiac ablation, this non-surgical treatment blocks the electrical cycle causing the irregular rhythm. “I’m so glad I had it done, and the nurses and doctors were wonderful,” she says.

Want to Know More about other types of heart surgeries? Click here.

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