In our continual quest to bring the most advanced treatments to the Central Valley, Saint Agnes Medical Center has made huge leaps in cardiovascular care. In 2024, Saint Agnes unveiled three brand new U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved heart procedures: FARAPULSE Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) System treating atrial fibrillation (AFib), TriClip™ Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (TEER) System for leaky tricuspid valve repair and the AVEIR™ DR Dual Chamber Leadless Pacemaker for wireless rhythm management.
Saint Agnes is the first hospital between Bakersfield and Stockton to offer these new procedures, bringing Valley patients treatment options that are safer, more effective and easier to recover from.
“Often larger cities are the first sites to get special equipment, but thanks to leadership here at Saint Agnes, we were able to expedite things and get the technology within a month of each approval from the FDA,” says Dr. Jagroop Basraon, Fresno-area Cardiologist.
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FARAPULSE Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) System
In April 2024, Saint Agnes became the first hospital in the Central Valley to perform a procedure utilizing the FARAPULSE Pulsed Field Ablation (PFA) System – a simple, cost-effective alternative to traditional thermal ablation treatment.
During a traditional ablation procedure, a catheter is guided into the heart and produces either extremely hot or cold temperatures to destroy targeted areas of the heart that are causing abnormal heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation. FARAPULSE utilizes cardiac tissue-selective, non-thermal electric fields to ablate targeted tissues.
"Before, with ablation, we would cauterize the tissue and then freeze it,” says Dr. Basraon. “So, this is really the next generation of technology.”
Since cardiac tissue has a lower damage threshold than the surrounding muscle and nerve cells, the ultra-rapid electrical pulses emitted by the FARAPULSE device only affect cardiac cells, which eliminates the risk of collateral injury often seen with traditional thermal ablation.
TriClip™ Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair (TEER) System
In August 2024, the first TriClip™ (TEER) procedure was performed at Saint Agnes.
The TEER procedure offers patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation a low-risk, non-surgical treatment option to help repair their leaky valve and improve quality of life. TriClip™ is delivered to the heart via a catheter inserted through the femoral vein in the leg and works by clipping together a portion of the leaflets of thetricuspid valve to reduce the backflow of blood.
“Individuals who are candidates for TriClip™ are really sick with an elevated risk for surgery, meaning if they were to undergo open heart surgery they would likely not survive,” says Dr. Usman Javed, Fresno-area Cardiologist.
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Historically, medical therapies have had little effect on treating tricuspid regurgitation, and traditional surgeries, like open heart surgery, are rarely performed due to significant risk. The TriClip™ device provides a much-needed treatment option for people suffering from this condition.
AVEIR™ DR Dual Chamber Leadless Pacemaker
In December 2024, Saint Agnes performed its first procedure to place an AVEIR™ DR Dual Chamber Leadless Pacemaker.
This newly FDA-approved device has two benefits compared to traditional pacemakers. The first, it has no wires, so the entire device is able to fit within the heart, under the skin. The second, is that the system utilizes two devices – one placed in the upper heart chamber and one placed in the lower chamber – that are able to synchronize both sides of the heart for effective and accurate rhythm management.
“For most folks who need a pacemaker, it’s usually an urgent or very emergent procedure to treat a blockage or slow heart rate,” says Dr. Dalpinder Sandhu, Fresno-area Cardiologist. “Having these devices available locally helps patients get the emergent care they need faster.”
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The AVEIR ™ DR is implanted via a tube inserted through the femoral artery, which means patients won’t have any chest scaring and recovery times are minimal.
Improving the lives of Valley patients
With these three new advancements, Saint Agnes is able to increase access to the highest quality care, providing the most effective treatments on the market to our patients right here at home.
“Before these advancements, we felt that a lot of heart patients had no option but to travel up north or down south for care,” says Dr. Javed. “These are sick patients and for many, travel is not an option. To have this technology in Fresno and to keep patients where they like to be and let them be treated so close to home is huge.”
