URMC Developing Atrial Fibrillation Center

The University of Rochester Medical Center is creating an atrial fibrillation center to offer patients access to experts with the most extensive experience in upstate New York and clinical trials that are not available elsewhere in the region. With the increasing prevalence of atrial fibrillation, the development of the new center comes at an ideal time and will help meet the growing clinical need to manage this condition.

Under the direction of cardiologist Burr Hall, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine and director of the Heart Station, the new center will provide ablation therapy and drug therapy, including consultation and recommendations on the use of antiarrhythmic drugs, anticoagulants, and future uses for alternatives to warfarin to reduce the risk of stroke.

Hall and his colleagues at the University of Rochester Medical Center are involved in numerous atrial fibrillation clinical trials, which are helping improve the way the condition is treated. URMC recently participated in several important trials, including a study comparing the effectiveness of antyarrythmic drugs and ablation therapy which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in March 2010, as well as a trial evaluating warfarin and a new anticoagulant, dabigatran, which was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in September 2009. Involvement in research efforts will continue and ultimately expand with the launch of the new center.

Patients with symptomatic atrial fibrillation that is interfering with their quality of life will be good candidates for referral directly to the new atrial fibrillation center.

For more information or to refer a patient, please call (585) 275-4775.