Medical Breakthroughs in cardiology
Kellie Pearson, a 52-year-old farmer from Marysville, Calif., was among the first 100 patients in the country to undergo a novel procedure called catheter ablation about 20 years ago to treat her arrhythmias, known as atrial fibrillation, aka AFib, or AF. At age 29, she discovered she had hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, aka HOCM, which runs in her family. The condition goes hand in hand with her having abnormal heartbeats, which could lead to blood clots, heart failure, stroke, and other heart problems.
HOCM is caused by an abnormally thick septum, the wall between the left and right side of heart, which bulges into the left ventricle. Blood flow out of the left ventricle is impeded, forcing the heart to work harder to pump blood. It causes the patient to feel chest pain, dizziness, fainting or shortness of breath.

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During a catheter ablation, tubes are inserted through a vein in the groin, or neck, and extended all the way to the heart. Wires are passed through these tubes all the way to the heart to send radiofrequency energy or heat to destroy specific areas of tissue that are causing abnormal heart rhythms.

Courtesy of Kellie Pearson, seen here with her horse, Guapo.
The procedure took less than three hours in Pearson’s case. It often takes four to six hours. She felt better immediately, so much so that she cooked dinner that night even though she was supposed to be on bedrest for 24 hours. Pearson considers herself lucky because most people she knows who have had catheter ablation need two or three more ablations before the abnormal rhythm-generating areas are fully inactivated.
Therein lies the problem that BioSig’s PURE EP System seeks to solve. An ablation for atrial AF and ventricular tachycardia (VT) first calls for an electrocardiogram to pinpoint the sites for the ablation procedure. But interference from other equipment in the electrophysiology lab warps the quality of the signals, which hinders the generation of useful data.
The more accurate the data, the shorter the procedure will likely be because the doctors can immediately pinpoint the specific heart areas that are producing the irregular rhythms. With more accuracy, the less likely the patient will need additional procedures. Distortions from interference could additionally lead to potential misdiagnosis, which often necessitates additional procedures.
Far Superior to Existing Technology
The PURE EP system does for cardiac readings what Bose headphones does for music. You best notice the benefits of high-quality noise cancelling headphones when listening to soft music in a noisy room. AF and VT are like soft music -- low amplitude high frequency electrical signals -- that PURE EP is better able to detect from the background noise.