Alcohol Septal Ablation

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What is Alcohol Septal Ablation?

Alcohol septal ablation is a nonsurgical procedure, often for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). HCM causes abnormally thick or stiff heart muscles.

In alcohol septal ablation, alcohol is injected into a select coronary artery. Over time, the alcohol shrinks the over-thickened septum (the wall between the two sides of the heart).

Patients sometimes need an implantable loop recorder or defibrillator after the procedure, or a pacemaker.

UR Medicine's Approach

Evaluation

Once you are referred to us, we will perform an evaluation to determine if you are a good candidate for alcohol septal ablation.

What’s included in the evaluation:

Review of past medical history and current medical status
Collaboration with our Electrophysiology and Advanced Heart Failure physicians for more complex patients
Physical exam
Family screening
Specialized cardiac imaging
Assessment of risk for sudden cardiac death
Discussion of possible treatment options
Referral to Medical Genetics for genetic counseling/possible testing

What Sets Us Apart?

UR Medicine is one of the few medical centers in the country that provides this specialized procedure that shrinks part of the thickened wall of the heart. Our team has been performing alcohol septal ablations since 2001, and has done over 200 cases, making us one of the most experienced teams in the country.

UR Medicine offers the Structural Heart Program, completely focused on treating structural and heart valve disease. We offer a multidisciplinary team of providers who specializes in percutaneous and surgical treatments. UR Medicine can also provide every other specialist you may need, including echo-cardiologists, radiologists, and specialists in heart failure, oncology, pulmonology and our congenital cardiac care.