Heart rhythm and AFib care in Illinois

Our heart care teams use ambulatory heart monitoring to help detect and evaluate irregular heart rhythms that may not appear during an office visit. These simple tests record your heart’s activity while you go about your daily routine, giving your cardiologist a better understanding of your heart health.

Ambulatory monitors are small, wearable devices that record your heart’s electrical activity over a period of time to identify irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias). This diagnostic tool helps guide treatment decisions, and monitor how well your current heart care plan is working.

Your cardiologist may order blood work to diagnose and manage a heart condition. Your doctor may also recommend heart blood work if you're at risk for heart disease, have a family history or are managing a condition like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

Used to identify conditions that may contribute to arrhythmias, such as thyroid disease, electrolyte imbalances, infection, heart enlargement, or lung congestion.

Evaluates how your heart performs during exercise or medication-induced stress while monitoring heart rhythm, heart rate, and blood pressure.

A chest X-ray is a quick, noninvasive imaging test that provides a detailed picture of the inside of your chest, helping your care team detect signs of a heart condition.

A painless test using sound waves to create moving images of your heart, showing how well the chambers and valves are working.

A quick, painless test that records your heart’s electrical activity at a single moment in time using small sticky patches placed on your chest, arms, and legs.

A specialized test performed in a cardiac lab where thin catheters map your heart’s electrical system in detail to identify the source of abnormal rhythms.

A small device placed just under the skin of the chest during a minor procedure. It continuously records heart rhythm for months or years and is helpful when symptoms occur infrequently.

For appropriate patients, AFib ablation and left atrial appendage closure may be performed during the same procedure, addressing rhythm control and stroke prevention in a single setting.

The convergent procedure is a hybrid treatment for patients with persistent or longstanding persistent AFib who have not responded to medication or catheter ablation alone. It combines minimally invasive surgical ablation on the outside of the heart with catheter-based ablation inside the heart, coordinated by electrophysiologists and cardiac surgeons.

A controlled electrical shock is used to restore normal rhythm in patients with AFib or other sustained arrhythmias.

For patients with non-valvular AFib who cannot tolerate long-term blood thinners or have an increased risk of bleeding, left atrial appendage closure procedures help reduce stroke risk.

Available catheter-based options include:

• WATCHMAN™
• Amulet™

These devices seal off the left atrial appendage to prevent blood clots from entering the bloodstream.

ICDs protect patients at risk for life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias by continuously monitoring heart rhythm and delivering therapy when dangerous rhythms occur.

Lead extraction is a specialized procedure used to safely remove one or more pacemaker or ICD leads when they become infected, damaged, or no longer function properly, or when device upgrades are needed. The procedure is performed by experienced electrophysiology teams using advanced tools and imaging.

Small, self-contained devices implanted directly inside the heart without leads.

• Ventricular leadless pacemakers treat slow heart rates originating in the lower chambers.
• Atrial leadless pacemakers help coordinate upper-chamber pacing in select patients and may be used alone or in combination with ventricular leadless devices.

Leadless pacemakers reduce the risk of lead-related complications and are appropriate for select patients.

Pacemakers help treat slow heart rhythms and heart block by maintaining an appropriate heart rate.

Placed under the skin without leads inside the heart or blood vessels. S-ICDs reduce the risk of bloodstream or lead-related complications and are appropriate for select patients who do not need pacing.

Surgical maze procedures may be performed for complex or longstanding AFib, either as a standalone treatment or during other heart surgery.

Traditional ICDs implanted under the skin with leads placed inside the heart.