How pulsed field ablation (PFA) treats irregular heartbeats

Your heart is the most important muscle in your body. Naturally, you want it to work at its best. Conditions like arrhythmias can throw off your heart’s normal rhythm but the right care can help get your heart back to beating efficiently. Pulsed field ablation (PFA) is a procedure used to treat heart arrhythmias by targeting the specific heart tissue that causes an irregular heartbeat. If you’re exploring care options for an arrhythmia or your cardiologist has mentioned PFA as a treatment, keep reading to learn how the procedure works and what to expect. What is pulsed field ablation? A pulsed field ablation is a procedure that uses short electrical pulses to create tiny holes in the cell membranes of heart tissues – a process called electroporation. These holes block the electrical signals responsible for arrhythmias. PFA is a type of catheter ablation, meaning that the procedure is performed using a thin tube (catheter) that is inserted into a blood vessel and guided up to the heart. Because it doesn’t require a large incision, catheter ablation (also called cardiac ablation) is considered a minimally invasive procedure. Pulsed field ablation vs. other types of cardiac ablation P...