Educational/Clinical Experience - Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology Fellowship Program

Fellowship training takes place at Ochsner Medical Center, a 473-bed academic tertiary care referral center located near uptown New Orleans. Ochsner employs over 600 physicians in 80 medical specialties and subspecialties, and serves a patient population which extends from the New Orleans metropolitan area across southeast Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region into Alabama, Mississippi Florida, Arkansas, and Texas. The Department of Cardiology at Ochsner consists of thirty physicians divided into six subspecialty areas include Heart Failure/Transplant, Interventional Cardiology, Adult Congenital Heart Disease, and Non-Invasive Imaging. In 2012, Ochsner Medical Center was ranked one of the top-20 hospitals for cardiology and heart surgery by US News & World Report.

The electrophysiology section consists of seven full-time electrophysiologists, including two pediatric electrophysiologists. Procedures are performed in one of three state-of-the-art, dedicated electrophysiology laboratories. Two of the labs are utilized for complex ablations, with biplane fluoroscopy, CARTO ™ and ESI/NAVX™ 3D electroanatomic mapping systems, ICE imaging, and advanced stimulator systems available for cases. A third lab is primarily used for device cases, including high-risk lead extractions. Over 1500 cases are performed yearly, including atrial flutter and SVT ablations, atrial fibrillation ablations utilizing radiofrequency energy and cryoballoon technology, idiopathic and scar VT ablations, device cases including implantation of pacemakers, ICDs, and biventricular systems, and lead extractions.

Fellowship training is focused primarily on acquiring the interpretive and eye-hand coordination skills required to become a top-flight clinical electrophysiologist. In the laboratory, fellows receive training in catheter placement and manipulation, programmed electrical stimulation and interpretation of intracardiac recordings, and catheter ablation of supraventricular tachyarrhythmias (including atrial flutter, atrial tachycardia, and atrial fibrillation) and ventricular tachyarrhythmias. Fellows will also become facile in the implantation and extraction of pacemakers, ICDs, and biventricular systems. Rotations on the inpatient and outpatient consultation services, and twice weekly electrophysiology conferences focused on electrogram interpretation and review of interesting cases, round out the clinical experience.