Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital

Arrhythmia Center of Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital has been designated as Korea’s first ‘Training Center for Arrhythmia Treatment without Radiation’ by Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest global pharmaceutical companies, in March.

Arrhythmia is a disease where the electrical stimulation towards the heart is not properly made or delivered, resulting in irregular rhythm of the heartbeat. It causes symptoms such as respiratory difficulty, palpitation, giddiness, blackout, and heart attack. Recently, patients with heart diseases such as atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, and ventricular premature beat are radically cured by radiofrequency catheter ablation.

Professor Hong Euy Lim’s team of arrhythmia center has been conducting arrhythmia procedures only with ultrasonic waves inside the heart in order to solve any related radiation exposure problems.

They improved the accuracy and stability of arrhythmia treatment by using radiofrequency catheter ablation using a 3D high-resolution mapping system. The 3D mapping system creates a virtual heart space by computer and checks the location of the catheter in real-time to find and cure areas that cause arrhythmia.

Radiofrequency catheter ablation is a procedure in which various sizes of catheters are placed in the heart through a peripheral blood vessel to find areas where arrhythmia occurs and remove them by high frequency.

“I hope this training center designation will help the cardiologists in Korea and in the world learn how to perform arrhythmia treatment without any radiation exposure in patients.” said Professor Hong Euy Lim.

By Hyun Ho Choi, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (dullie1989@hallym.or.kr)