Two surgeons at the University of Florida Health Jacksonville, perform a two-in-one heart procedure for patients with a certain type of atrial fibrillation, according to First Coast News.
The procedure is called convergent heart surgery, which consists of two surgeries performed back-to-back, while the patient remains under a general anesthetic.
For the surgery, Jack Pirris, MD, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at UF Health Jacksonville, ablates the outside of the heart. After, John Catanzaro, MD, an electrophysiologist at the hospital, ablates the inside of the heart.
"And that scar essentially, over three months, develops to a point where it inhibits or doesn't let those signals that cause atrial fibrillation get into the heart," Dr. Catanzaro told First Coast News.
Both surgeons told First Coast News convergent surgery is a safe and convenient treatment for atrial fibrillation, which affects more than 6.1 million people in the U.S., according to the CDC.
More articles on clinical leadership and infection control:
3 experimental Ebola vaccines prove promising, researchers find
Ebola outbreak now Congo's 3rd largest with 270+ cases
CMS cites Baylor St. Luke's for defibrillator issues during patient's heart transplant