Mar. 9--Behind a glass-walled lab at Florida Hospital, a set of two-ton magnets moves a soft, metal-tipped catheter about the circumference of cooked spaghetti into Bill Martin's beating heart.
Seated in front of a bank of flat-panel screens, Dr. George Monir uses a joystick to gently navigate the catheter through the delicate organ and zap scars in Martin's heart tissue to correct life-threatening irregular rhythms.
This technology, called remote magnetic navigation, is among the latest robotic surgical procedures at Florida Hospital -- the only facility in Central Florida to use the system for the treatment of complex arrhythmias.
Arrhythmias are disorders of the heart that occur when the electrical impulses that coordinate heartbeats don't function properly, causing the heart to beat too fast, too slow or irregularly.
About 2.2 million Americans are living with atrial fibrillation, a common type of arrhythmia, according to the American Heart Association. Although arrhythmias can occur in a healthy heart and have minimal effect, they also can indicate a serious problem and lead to heart disease, stroke or sudden cardiac death.
Symptoms of atrial fibrillation include heart palpitations, shortness of breath and fatigue.
"It's a progressive disease. For some it comes and goes before it turns into a persistent last stage," said Monir. "If detected earlier and treated, you have better outcomes."
Traditional catheter labs in hospitals rely on the manual placement and steering of catheters by a physician, who must wear a lead apron because of radiation exposure from X-rays used to show the catheter in the heart. Using remote magnetic navigation, the doctor can conduct the procedure in a shielded room or another location via a network connection.
Monir said the difference between the traditional catheter procedure and the magnetic navigation is like trying to write with a pen by holding it from the back end versus closer to the tip.
"It gives us much more precision," he said.
An additional advantage over traditional catheters is that the robotic catheter is softer and more flexible, reducing the chances of damaging the heart wall.
Doctors begin by mapping on a color-coded image of the heart the areas where scar tissue has caused the heart's electrical impulses to short-circuit. They then apply radio-frequency energy to destroy the parts of tissue responsible for arrhythmia. It is a four- to five-hour procedure, depending on the stage of the disease.
For cardiologists such as Monir and Dr. Scott Pollak, who lead Florida Hospital's Cardiovascular Institute, the remote magnetic navigation technology developed by Stereotaxis Inc. is their first major foray into robotic surgery.
"It certainly requires hand-eye coordination; you learn new skills," said Pollak. "But the advantages of robotics are improved safety and shorter recovery time. The duration of the procedure is reduced, which is associated with lower risk."
For Martin, a retired traveling shoe salesman from south Orlando, his procedure using the new technology was a piece of cake compared with the open-heart surgery he underwent four years ago.
"The open-heart surgery was much more traumatic," said Martin, 63. "I wasn't apprehensive about this latest procedure because I knew it allowed doctors to be more precise and do a better job at treating my heart condition."
Martin said he agreed to undergo the procedure because he likes and trusts his doctors, Pollak and Monir.
"You can have all the greatest equipment in the world," he said, "but it's the doctors who make the difference."
Fernando Quintero can be reached at fquintero@orlandosentinel.com or 407-650-6333.
-----
To see more of The Orlando Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.OrlandoSentinel.com.
Copyright (c) 2010, The Orlando Sentinel, Fla.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NASDAQ-NMS:STXS,