The electrophysiological examination takes place in a special room, also called a laboratory. At Swiss Ablation, we have the only outpatient hybrid operating theatre. In this hybrid operating theatre we can perform all electrophysiological examinations as well as operations such as a pacemaker. In this specially equipped operating theatre, work is carried out under sterile conditions and with X-ray equipment. The catheters can be located by X-rays, but recently also by electromagnetic fields (without radiation). These catheters are then inserted into the heart via the inguinal vein and have a locating or stimulating function (diagnostic catheters for mapping or stimulation of the heart) or they are catheters that transfer energy to certain regions of the heart with the aim of destroying/burning the tissue there (ablation catheters).
The electrocardiogram (ECG)
An ECG is the recording of all electrical activities of the heart muscle cells by means of an electrocardiograph. You could also call it the individual handwriting of the heart. Adhesive electrodes attached to the surface of the body can perceive the voltage changes of these electrical activities absolutely painlessly and record them over time. This results in the recurring image of a heart action. In the electrophysiological examination, the ECG is not obtained from the surface but directly from inside the heart.
The electrophysiological examination/Study
Special equipment is needed to be able to carry out an examination of the cardiac currents and, if necessary, a subsequent sclerotherapy (ablation). With modern, partly automated localisation procedures (mapping), it is possible on the one hand to determine the origin of a heart rupture, for example, and on the other hand to precisely characterise the heart muscle tissue: It is possible to gain information about the extent of healthy or also diseased tissue by measuring the size and width of an electrical signal picked up from inside the heart (up to finding dead tissue, i.e. a scar).
