By putting in place advanced electrophysiology services and the recruitment of one of the nation's most experienced electrophysiologists, MCG Health System is one step closer to offering specialized surgeries such as heart transplantation.
"Arrhythmias are abnormal heartbeats and they affect millions of Americans. There are cutting-edge technologies currently in place for the treatment of heart arrhythmias and heart failure," said Dr. Robert Sorrentino, who recently joined MCG as Director of Arrhythmia Services in Cardiovascular Medicine after more than a decade at Duke University in one of the nation's five leading heart programs. "Our goal is to continue to build the arrhythmia service so that we can offer a full-service program that includes specialized surgeries such as heart transplantation."
Dr. Sorrentino is responsible for overseeing the specialized care needed for those with heart arrhythmia, which is the chief cause of sudden death. He is particularly skilled in the use of heart devices such as implantable defibrillators and in the laser-guided removal of pacemaker leads.
"These treatments are designed to give immediate support to heart failure patients and possibly stave off the need for heart transplants down the road," Dr. Sorrentino said.
There has been rapid growth in the use of implantable defibrillators in the management of patients with existing heart problems, according to Dr. Sorrentino. "For these 'super-pacemakers', the technology has developed far beyond their original purpose, which was to help pace, or regulate slow or irregular heart rhythms," he said.
The new implantable defibrillators are the size of a small pager and are implanted under the skin on the chest. Including a built-in pacemaker, the defibrillators monitor heart rhythms day and night and respond to life-threatening slow heart rhythms by pacing the heart to beat faster or by delivering an internal shock.
"These defibrillators have the ability to recognize arrhythmias in 10 seconds or less and are potentially life-saving for those at high risk for heart rhythm abnormalities," said Dr. Sorrentino. "More than 400,000 patients a year experience cardiac arrest and, if placed, these types of devices can save 99 percent of them."
Implantable defibrillators are most commonly placed in high-risk patients to prevent cardiac arrest. For these individuals, medications are not very effective. According to Dr. Sorrentino, the defibrillators improve patients' quality of life and have a dramatic effect on longevity. In addition, because of recent changes in Medicare policy, more patients will now be able to benefit from implantable heart devices.
When wires on devices are no longer needed, fail or when a system becomes infected, Dr. Sorrentino is also able to remove and replace these wires, or leads, without the need for open heart surgery. "The expected longevity of these leads is about 10 years," said Dr. Sorrentino. "In the old days, removing these wires was a problem due to a high probability of scar tissue that caused the wires to adhere to the blood vessels."
Dr. Sorrentino employs a method of laser-guided lead removal that cuts through scar tissue and simplifies removal. The laser is the same type of laser commonly used in surgeries for the eye and is guided via a catheter into the heart. Special tools grasp the wire as the laser slices through scar tissue. The old lead is then removed and a new lead may be put in its place.
Dr. Sorrentino's other interests include biventricular pacing devices that pace rhythms in all four heart chambers as well as pulmonary vein isolation, which involves the ablation of tissue near the pulmonary vein to regulate the electrical impulses of the heart and treat atrial fibrillation, or irregular heartbeat.
Dr. Sorrentino earned his medical degree from Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, and completed an internship and residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in cardiology and cardiac electrophysiology at Duke University Medical Center. He is a Diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Internal Medicine and is also a Diplomate in the Subspeciality of Cardiovascular Diseases and in the Subspecialty of Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology. Dr. Sorrentino has been listed in Castle Connolly Medical's "America's Top Doctors" since 2001 and has also been named to Who's Who in Medicine and Healthcare.
