Cryoablation | Patient Testimony and Health Story

Breakthrough Procedure Cryoablation

Cryoablation is a procedure that’s helping patients like Peter Hetala stop worrying about their cardiac health. For 7 years, Peter Hetala’s heart would race uncontrollably. "My heart's coming out of my chest and since it’s pumping so much blood so fast, the veins in my neck would start aching and there would be shortness of breath", says Peter.

Peter suffered from superventricular tachycardia, also known as SVT. It's caused by extra electrical circuits in the heart or abnormal electrical pathways, which in turn causes a very rapid heartbeat. For Peter, just climbing a flight of steps would put his heart into overdrive. "It's like you just ran the 26 mile marathon and your heart is pounding, and you just can't slow down. It makes you feel very nervous and scary", says Peter. For Peter, after years of taking beta blockers which were not always effective in regulating his heartbeat, he decided to have cryoablation.

Cryoablation is the recently approved FDA procedure which can literally cure people of arrhythmia. Dr. Grant Simmons, a cardiac electrophysiologist with Englewood Medical Center, performed cryoablation on Peter. "Cryoablation is a technology where we can eradicate certain areas of the heart that are causing electrical problems by using a catheter which actually freezes those areas," explains Dr. Simmons. Under local anesthesia, a catheter is threaded through the groin, sent into the heart to the area where the heart's electrical circuits exist. Doctors map out the abnormalities in the wiring, looking for the cells that are creating the rapid beats. "We are able to first chill the cells without actually killing them, and that gives us the opportunity to do a test freeze," says Dr. Simmons. So, the abnormal cells are actually temporarily shut off before they're killed.

Traditionally, radiofrequency ablation has been used to help those suffering from SVT. Instead of freezing cells to death, the procedure uses intense heat which kills the cells. "When you use radiofrequency, and you start heating, if you're near a critical part of the heart you really often can't turn it off and reverse what you just did. We're not able to test spots, and the test freezes are really probably the most important aspect of cryoablation," explains Dr. Simmons.

Peter says that "cryoablation gave him his life back". He's off beta blockers and his heart rate is completely back to normal. He can now work out, travel and enjoy his favorite past time, playing with his daughter without the fear of his heart racing out of control. "Cryoablation is an amazing procedure and I had no pain through it. And to be cured like this is a fantastic thing," says Peter. For most patients cryoablation entails one overnight stay at the hospital and two days of R&R at home. Peter had his surgery on Thursday and was back to work on Monday.