CARDIOLOGISTS at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital are leading the way in delivering a new and innovative heart procedure to their patients.
The life-saving procedure involves the fitting of a small electronic device, an Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator, inside the chest of patients suffering from abnormally fast heart rhythms.
It monitors the rhythm of the heart and if it identifies an abnormal rhythm, delivers an electrical shock to return the heart rhythm to normal.
Dr Stuart Walker, Consultant Cardiologist at Musgrove Park Hospital, said: "Patients to our Coronary Care Unit are among the first patients in the country to be offered this type of procedure. Whilst some Somerset patients have been benefiting from ICD use at Musgrove Park for many years the National Institute of Clinical Excellence recently published guidelines highlighting the benefit of ICDs in a group of patients who have recently suffered from a heart attack, and who remain at high risk of future heart rhythm problems."
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