Inova AFib Center 2023 Donor Impact Update

Inova AFib Center 2023 Donor Impact Update The Inova AFib Center continues to provide meaningful impact on our three-part mission: 1. To provide world class AFib care to our patients, 2. To advance the field of atrial fibrillation research improving care for patients around the world, 3. To educate our team and our resident and fellow trainees to improve care patients with AFib for generations to come.

Clinical Care In Q3 we welcomed Dr. Pamela Brandt who specializes in medical and surgical weight loss and is the director of the Inova Medical Weight Loss Program.

She sees patients in the Inova AFib Center who are overweight or obese – addressing one of the most common risk factors for AFib in the US. Dr. Brandt's presence in the AFib Center increases our success at helping patients lose weight, which has been proven to reduce the frequency of AFib episodes.

More than 50% of patients seeking care in the Inova AFib Center are overweight or obese using the CDC’s definition of body mass index > 25.

Research In Q3 we prepared a manuscript comparing the frequency of anxiety and depression before and after treatment in the Inova AFib Center.

This manuscript refreshes the data previously presented at the Annual Heart Rhythm Society Meeting in May. This meeting provides continuing medical education for physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses and technicians who specialize in AFib–helping us stay at the forefront of AFib care. With increased numbers of patients observed in this analysis, the effect of management in the Inova AFib Center on anxiety and depression became even more impressive. We found significant reductions in both the frequency and severity of anxiety and depression observed.

Dr. Eunice Yang has started a randomized controlled trial of AFib ablation compared to standard medical therapy for the treatment of patients with both heart failure and atrial fibrillation and who have a normal left ventricular ejection fraction.

We suspect that millions of Americans fall into this category and they require frequent hospitalizations to receive IV medications to help get rid of accumulated fluid in the legs and lungs. In the AMPERE pilot study, Dr. Yang is investigating whether treatment of their AFib using catheter ablation may reduce the severity of their heart failure, potentially opening up a new treatment paradigm for these patients. Her work is supported by a combination of generous philanthropic support, Medtronic, Biosense Webster, and other public funding mechanisms.

Dr. Atwater has started a randomized controlled trial comparing the effectiveness of the two commercially available defibrillators at Inova Health System. This trial will determine which device is more effective for the conversion of atrial fibrillation to normal sinus rhythm during a commonly performed cardioversion procedure.

The study results will inform providers at Inova and around the world about which device offers the best therapy for our patients with AFib who require a cardioversion to return to normal rhythm.

105/560 patients were enrolled in the first 8 weeks.

Dr. Brett Atwater was interviewed in September by NBC 4 about Afib and the piece featured one of his patients.

Dave Conover, a 72-year-old world-class triathlete was treated for Afib and is already back to competing.