Providence Hospital launches procedure for patients with irregular heartbeats

The Midlands experienced a medical first Wednesday when surgeons implanted a device designed to prevent blood clots in four patients at Providence Hospital in Columbia.

The Watchman, a device approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March 2015, is designed to help AFib patients reduce the risk of stroke-inducing blood clots without blood thinners. Surgeons at Providence spent about eight months training and preparing for the procedure.

AFib, or artrial fibrillation, is a quivering or irregular heartbeat. At least 2.7 million Americans have AFib, according to the American Heart Association, and are susceptible to strokes. The number of AFib patients has risen during the past two decades, along with the number who suffer strokes, especially in South Carolina, says Dr. Venkateshwar Gottipaty, a cardiac electrophysiologist at Providence and one of the surgeons who implanted the Watchmans on Wednesday.

Many of those strokes are caused by blood pooling in a small pouch on the left side of the heart called the left atrial appendage.

The Watchman, which is implanted through a catheter inserted in the upper leg, seals off that left atrial appendage. The device is about the size of a quarter once released through the catheter, where it opens up like an umbrella.

“The standard treatment for many patients with AFib is to put them on blood-thinning medications,” Gottipaty says.

But those medications sometimes have side effects, and some patients can't tolerate blood thinners. Those patients are candidates for the Watchman implant.

“It’s a good way for us to decrease the risk of having strokes in patients without using blood thinners,” Gottipaty says.

He estimates Providence has 40 patients ready to benefit from the procedure and predicts the number of candidates will rise. This is one tool that Providence uses to serve the community by moving “toward our goal of disease management and care.”

Gottipaty stresses that the Watchman is not appropriate for all AFib patients. The FDA says it’s for patients who:

▪  have atrial fibrillation not related to heart valve disease.

▪  are at increased risk for a stroke.

▪  are recommended for blood thinning medicines.

The procedure takes less than an hour, and usually requires an overnight stay in the hospital and a 24-hour recovery. Over time, heart tissue grows over the device, permanently sealing it. Most patients can discontinue blood thinning medications 45 days after the procedure.

Lexington Medical Center doctors will begin training to implant the Watchman device in February with plans to start using the procedure in March. Palmetto Health also plans to begin performing the procedure soon.

This story was originally published January 25, 2017 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Providence Hospital launches procedure for patients with irregular heartbeats."