Jose Baez-Escudero, MD, the first systemwide chief of cardiology at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Broward Health, has brought pulsed field ablation technology to the system.
Boston Scientific’s Farapuls system is used to treat atrial fibrillation, according to a
Feb. 25 news release from Broward Health.
Dr. Baez spoke to Becker’s about what it means to bring this new technology to Broward Health and how his first few months as the systemwide chief of cardiology have gone.
Editor’s note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What about this technology makes it such a game changer for Broward Health?
Dr. Jose Baez: We’re very proud to be one of the first healthcare systems in the area to offer this groundbreaking technology, which will majorly advance the way that we’re treating atrial fibrillation.
The pulse field ablation technology uses a non-thermal approach, delivering specific targeted electrical pulses to the cardiac tissue while sparing all tissue that is non-cardiac and in proximity.
It’s much safer from a patient and physician standpoint, and from a doctor’s standpoint. It’s also a much quicker procedure than before. Instead of patients being on the table for two or three hours, it’s more like an hour and 20 minutes.
This creates a much faster workflow for procedure rooms. Most patients, because they’re under anesthesia for such a short period of time, wake up quicker and go home the same day. It has given us the ability to schedule more cases and fit in more patients. Since bringing in this new technology, the wait and access times for patients has been much, much less.
Q: How have the first few months of being Broward Health’s first systemwide chief of cardiology gone?
JB: It’s been a great couple of months so far. Obviously, my specialty is electrophysiology and arrhythmia, so this initial initiative was to bring in new technologies specific to my field. But overall, in the health system, we’re committed to advancing cardiovascular care in all other service lines.
It’s not only about new electrophysiology technologies, but also about recruiting new physicians in structural heart disease and our imaging section, setting up projects with educational fellowships, and expanding other service lines like general cardiology at specific location sites.
There are a lot of fun and cool projects coming up, it’s an exciting time for Broward Health. Not only do we have a great vision and support from our leadership, we have an opportunity to really make a nice change going forward in the community.
