Electrophysiology: Heart Failure Treatment

The heart is more than a muscular pump — it is also a sensitive electrical system.

Electrical signals within the heart are what cause the muscles to contract. When the electrical system is not functioning properly, the heart functions poorly as well.

To determine the nature of your heart problem and arrive at a solution, doctors at UPMC's Advanced Heart Failure Center turn to electrophysiology — the study of electrical signals in the heart.

Some of these procedures test the heart; others eliminate the abnormality.

Electrophysiology Procedures

Procedures that address heart rhythm problems and help repair the heart include:

  • Implantable devices, like internal cardioverter defibrillators or biventricular pacemakers, to regulate the heart's electrical impulses and improve function.
  • Minimally invasive atrial surgery.
  • Radiofrequency ablation uses heat to destroy abnormal tissue, eliminating the irregular electrical conduction routes that produce cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heart rhythms).

About Our Electrophysiology Program

The UPMC Cardiac Electrophysiology Program is the only program in western Pennsylvania with subspecialty centers for the evaluation and management of atrial arrhythmias and infected implanted pacemakers and other heart-rhythm devices.

Our program helps hundreds of people every year by identifying electrical problems in the heart and implanting devices that can help them lead normal lives. The electrophysiology specialists in our program also perform hundreds of direct current cardioversion procedures every year.

Electrophysiology

Video Resources

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