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Cardiac electrophysiology is arguably the fastest growing area in cardiology today. Knowledgeable and competent staff members are essential for a successful EP program; however, recruiting and maintaining trained electrophysiology staff is extremely difficult due to the lack of formal education programs.

In this article, we speak with Arnold Greenspon, MD, Director of the Cardiac Electrophysiology Laboratory at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where a new EP lab recently opened.

Our Spotlight Interviews have been a popular monthly feature since EP Lab Digest started in 2001. In this special feature, we check back with some of our previously highlighted EP labs to see how they have changed since first being profiled.

The principle of using ultrasound technology to obtain both morphologic and physiologic information is not new. The concept of using intracardiac phased array ultrasound to view intracardiac space was first introduced in 1990 in which relatively low-frequency transducers (~5.0MHz) were mounted on a modified endoscope, later becoming known as transesophageal probes. However, the technology proved to be mainly useful for “macro” cardiac clinical applications such as valvular stenosis, left ventricular wall motion, etc. The need for a more precise, high frequency solution arose for “micro” cardiac applications. Large transesophageal probes were not designed for, and therefore could not be used or modified to explore smaller intracardiac structures. The need for the development of a smaller, high frequency transducer has been driven by the increase in the number of interventional electrophysiology procedures being performed and the requirement for more complex cardiac assessment.¹

The authors provide an overview of their educational course “Order and Disorder in the Cardiac Rhythm — Beyond the Basics,” held December 2 and 3 in Chicago.

This lab was originally profiled in our September 2003 Spotlight Interview. In this month’s feature, we get an update from the lab. In addition, they test out our new Spotlight Interview questions! To get a copy of our new questions, download them from our website (www.eplabdigest.com) or email “jelrod@hmpcommunications.com” and we’ll send them to you.