Atrial Fibrillation Center

 

East Tennessee's Only Atrial Fibrillation Center Offers Surgical Treatment for Atrial Fibrillation

The Atrial Fibrillation Center at the University of Tennessee Medical Center is the only program of its kind in the region. Its purpose is to evaluate, manage and provide various treatment options for your patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). As baby boomers age, the AF population in the United States is expected to swell from approximately 2.3 million to 4.5 million by 2011. The Atrial Fibrillation Center, an initiative of the Heart Lung Vascular Institute, will work to meet the growing needs of the region’s AF patients by providing the most innovative treatment options and proven therapies that will produce the best outcome for your atrial fibrillation patient.

Atrial Fibrillation Treatment Options

The following are treatment options for atrial fibrillation.

Medical Management

• Comprehensive medical evaluation
• Anti-arrhythmia drug management
• Rate-control drug management
• Anticoagulation drug management

Intervention

• Electrophysiologic testing
• Pacemakers
• AV Node ablation
• Focal and accessory pathway ablation
• Catheter ablation for pulmonary vein isolation
• Intracardiac echocardiography
• 3D mapping

Atrial Fibrillation surgery

• Concomitant Maze procedures - With Mitral valve repair or replacement, Aortic valve procedures, Coronary bypass or other cardiac operations
• Standard Cox Maze IV operation
• Minimally Invasive Maze procedure (Mini-Maze)
• Parasympathetic ganglia mapping and ablation
• Removal of left atrial appendage for stroke reduction

One of the goals of the Atrial Fibrillation Center is to make patient referral convenient for the referring physician. We have a call center with a dedicated staff to screen and process referrals for first time patients. Upon acceptance into the center, patients will be evaluated by a general cardiologist, cardiac electrophysiologist or cardiothoracic surgeon to determine the most appropriate course of treatment.

Patient monitoring and follow up also is an important feature of the program. We utilize a clinical coordinator to track patient outcomes and ensure that post procedure monitoring is obtained per Heart Rhythm Society guidelines. Our staff is dedicated to working with referring physicians in order to keep you informed of your patient’s progress through the Atrial Fibrillation Center and to ensure that appropriate follow up management is communicated.

 

“I have no more restrictions on my life.”

Jane Hudson was passionate about nursing for 49 years and dedicated to caring for others. In her retirement she developed atrial fibrillation and was unable to do the things she loved such as traveling. Upon Dr. James Cox’s recommendation, Jane underwent the MiniMaze procedure, performed by Dr. Thomas Gaines and Dr. Cox, to correct her atrial fibrillation and has since returned to regular activities.

“I feel great,” she said. “I have no more restrictions on my life. Traveling is a lot easier and more fun. Dr. Cox, Dr. Gaines and UT Medical Center were wonderful. Everyone took great care of me.”

read more

Patient Referral

For more information or to refer a patient, please call the Atrial Fibrillation Center at 865.246.2230.

Atrial Fibrillation Center Physicians

Cardiology / Electrophysiology
Dr. James Cox	Dr. Jeffrey Hirsh

 

Cardiothoracic Surgery
Dr. Raymond Dieter	Dr. Jeffrey Everett
Dr. Thomas Gaines

 

General Cardiology
Dr. John Acker	Dr. Raj Baljepally
Dr. Myrwood Besozzi	Dr. Stuart Bresee
Dr. Russell Huntsinger	Dr. Jeffrey Johnson
Dr. Joseph Liu	Dr. Bret Rogers
Dr. Christopher Scott	Dr. Dale Wortham
Dr. James Yates