St. David's HealthCare and Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Announce International Center For Training, Research and Treatment of Heart Rhythm...( Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Recruits...),Health

Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Recruits and Hires Dr. Andrea Natale, Leading Expert on Atrial Fibrillation

Natale Named Executive Medical Director of the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center

AUSTIN, Texas, May 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- St. David's HealthCare, along with Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia, announced today the development of the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute (TCAI) at St. David's Medical Center. TCAI -- an international treatment, training and research center specializing in heart rhythm disorders -- is the first of its kind in the U.S.

Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia, an Austin-based cardiac electrophysiology group that is a division of Texas Cardiovascular Consultants and the largest private practice electrophysiology group in the U.S., recruited and hired world-renowned cardiac electrophysiologist Andrea Natale, MD, FACC, FHRS, as a partner in the practice. Natale will serve as TCAI's executive medical director. He brings more than 20 years of experience in cardiovascular disease to the institute.

Dr. Natale performs/pioneered a specialized procedure in which catheters are placed in the heart and radio frequency energy is delivered to electrically disconnect the area that initiates the abnormal heart rhythm; atrial fibrillation. This highly complicated technique requires precise catheter control.

Heart rhythm disorders (arrhythmias) are problems that affect the electrical system, or "wiring," of the heart muscle. Heart arrhythmias are very common and millions of people will experience an abnormal heart rhythm some time during their lives.

Natale treats patients from around the world for abnormal heart rhythms (or Atrial Fibrillation). He was a member of the Cardiovascular Medicine Department at the Cleveland Clinic from 1999 to October 2007, serving most recently as section head for the Department of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology and as medical director for the Cle
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