Located in Erie, Pennsylvania, Saint Vincent Health Center is a 450-bed regional referral center recognized as a leader in a number of medical specialties, including cardiovascular disease. In 1990, the Saint Vincent Heart Center introduced the first comprehensive electrophysiology lab in the northwestern Pennsylvania region and has continued innovations in both diagnosis and treatment. The Saint Vincent Heart Center has three board-certified electrophysiologists, two dedicated EP Labs and an outpatient Pacemaker/Defibrillator Clinic. We have four full-time RNs, one part-time RN, a full-time RT and a full-time pacemaker specialist on our team.

What types of procedures are performed at your facility? Approximately how many are performed each week? What complications do you find during these procedures?

Chief Executive Officer Jawahar M. Desai, MD, FACC, has over 20 years of experience in the field of Cardiology and Electrophysiology. He is a published author and holds 17 U.S. and international patents issued in his name. Chief Operating Officer Shawn Fojtik has over 15 years of sales, sales management, medical device development, marketing management, and international sales and marketing experience. He holds 2 U.S. and international patent applications in his name.
I was introduced to the two of them at this year s Atrial Fibrillation meeting in Boston on January 18-19th. Later, I had the opportunity to speak with them regarding their views on current and future treatments in atrial fibrillation.

EPLD: Were you able to attend any of the sessions at the Atrial Fibrillation meeting? What new information did you see come out of this year's meeting?

Syncope is responsible for 5% of emergency department visits and 1% of hospital admissions.1 Syncopal episodes are often too infrequent and unpredictable for detection with conventional ambulatory monitoring techniques. Electrophysiologic testing is performed when noninvasive tests and neurologic work-ups are negative. Nonetheless, electrophysiological testing is negative in 14-70% of patients.^1-3 The purpose of this study was to review our initial experience of a university hospital with a first-generation implantable loop recorder (ILR) for diagnosis of recurrent unexplained syncope or presyncope.

This growth appears to be related to the aging population, and also because of the successful treatment of many cardiac conditions with medications, interventions and devices. Nearly one million patients are discharged from the hospital annually with the diagnosis of heart failure, an increase of 159.4% from 1979 to 1998. The total cost of managing heart failure was estimated to be approximately $56 billion in 1999.

Another common problem associated with heart failure is sudden cardiac death (SCD). Sudden cardiac death accounts for nearly 300,000 deaths per year which is half of all c