Stanford Arrhythmia Service Research Initiatives
The Stanford Arrhythmia Service is dedicated not only to treating its patients with the finest technology and treatment options available, but also to advancing those treatments in order to provide continually improving care.
Clinical research studies contribute greatly to the Arrhythmia Service’s ability to achieve its mission of promoting outstanding clinical service, education and research. These studies may be sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, other governmental agencies, industry, or Stanford arrhythmia physicians.
Frequently, new technologies or methods are only available to our patients through these clinical studies. In some cases, studies use approved devices or technologies, but are investigating a new use or application of these techniques.
Many of these national programs were initiated by Stanford’s arrhythmia physicians. The Stanford Arrhythmia Program has active programs in:
- Pacemakers
- ICDs
- Resynchronization therapy
- Catheter ablation
New Arrhythmia Technologies
We’ve developed a collaboration with the Stanford Biodesign program – an innovative collaboration between medicine and engineering – to develop new technologies in medicine.
We’re actively developing new approaches to arrhythmia diagnosis and treatment, including:
- New device development
- Resynchronization Therapy
- New technologies for catheter ablation and cryoablation
- Integration of imaging in catheter ablation
- Arrhythmias in cardiomyopathies (hypertrophic, ischemic, nonischemic)
- Atrial fibrillation: New treatments and diagnostic techniques
- New approaches to ICD and Pacemaker therapy
- Evaluation and management of syncope and autonomic dysfunction
- Evaluation of arrhythmias and sleep disorders
- Signal Processing techniques for diagnosis of arrhythmias
Research Interests
Dr. Wang's research centers on the development of innovative approaches to the treatment of arrhythmias, including more effective catheter ablation techniques, more reliable implantable devices, and less invasive treatments. Dr. Wang's clinical research interests include atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, syncope, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Dr. Wang has active collaborations with Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering Departments at Stanford. Some of the goals of his research program are:
- to create a more effective methods of catheter ablation,
- to create implantable pacemakers and leads that are more reliable,
- to create a combined surgical-catheter approach to ablation,
- to create noninvasive methods of ablation,
- to make defibrillation painless.
http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Paul_Wang/
Dr. Amin Al-Ahmad - He has a particular interest in new advances in the catheter ablation treatment of arrhythmias, including atrial fibrillation, and in lead extraction. His research areas include new device development and clinical studies of cardiac arrhythmias. http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Amin_Al-Ahmad/
Dr. Hsia has a particular interest in the catheter ablation of complex arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardias, supraventricular tachycardias, and ventricular tachycardia. He continues to be involved in a number of clinical trials involving implantable defibrillators, catheter ablation, and resynchronization therapy. http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Henry_Hsia/
Dr. Zei is developing an active research program in Cardiac Electrophysiology at Stanford, with primary interests in new ablation technologies and investigating the basic physiologic mechanisms of arrhythmias. http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Paul_Zei/
Dr. Turakhia is also a co-investigator of several clinical trials and is also developing clinical studies to evaluate and is also developing clinical studies to evaluate novel diagnostic, signal processing, and device technologies to treat heart rhythm disorders. http://cvmedicine.stanford.edu/people/turakhia.html
Dr. Perez has been involved in research on the genetics and proteomics of Atrial Fibrillation. http://med.stanford.edu/profiles/Marco_Perez/