First patient in the new heart laboratory: a life without rhythm disorders

First patient in the new heart laboratory: a life without rhythm disorders

The 60-year-old Birgit Tretter from Sassnitz has been able to experience successful treatment of her long-term cardiac arrhythmia in the newly opened cardiac catheter laboratory of the Helios Hanseklinikum Stralsund. After over a decade of troubling symptoms and several alarm signs, she finally called the emergency doctor when she experienced multiple attacks and was very afraid of a heart attack. When it was briefed in the emergency room of the clinic, no heart attack could be determined, but a rhythm disorder in need of treatment that urgently had to be treated. Loud Ostsee-Zeitung was the first patient to be brought to the new cardiac catheter laboratory, which was inaugurated in March 2025, which specializes in rhythmological interventions.

The medical specialists carried out an electrophysiological examination (EPU) at Tretter, in which the cause of their rhythm disorders was desolated. Interestingly, the intervention took place with the patient's consciousness, which gave the doctors the opportunity to immediately assess the success of the treatment. The EPU turned out to be crucial to locate the electrical signals caused in the heart of the patient. The procedure is often supported by the use of electrocatheters, which are inserted into the heart either via the bar or the collarbone vein in order to carry out precise measurements and, if necessary, to make necessary corrections, as is made on Martha Maria

A look at the certified cardiac catheter laboratory

The cardiac catheter laboratory in Stralsund not only specializes in electrophysiological interventions, but also offers therapies for structural heart diseases, such as the insertion of mitraclips or the closure of "holes" in the heart. Overall, the Helios Hanseklinikum has three cardiac catheter laboratories. In 2024, numerous electrophysiological interventions as well as a variety of cardiac catheter examinations and pacemakers were carried out there, such as the Clinic for cardiology reported.

The rhythmology, which forms the core of the new technologies in the cardiac catheter laboratory, deals with the diagnosis and treatment of cardiac arrhythmia, which can occur in a structurally normal heart and specific heart disease. The common types of cardiac arrhythmias include bradycardia, tachycardia and extrasystoles. The treatment methods include, among other things, the catheter ablation, in which the heart tissue is desolated to fix the rhythm disorder.

Birgit Tretter expressed very positive about the care and the professional treatment she received. After only three days in the hospital, she was able to leave the clinic and is now looking forward to a new life without the stressful rhythm disorders. The possibility of participating in the procedure with full awareness has also shaped her experience positively and illustrates the high level of medical care in the Helios Hanseklinikum.