Electrophysiology (EP)

Dizziness, shortness of breath, fainting or the feeling of your heart racing or pounding in your chest may indicate that your heart’s electrical system needs attention.

Expert Care for Complex Arrhythmias Nearby

Choose the cardiologists with specialty training in electrophysiology (EP) at OU Health in Oklahoma City for the expert care you need to diagnose and treat heart rhythm concerns, including arrhythmias and related conditions. You work together with a multidisciplinary team of electrophysiologists, cardiologists, interventional cardiologists and other healthcare professionals to evaluate unusual issues with the electrical system that keeps your heart beating regularly. You and your heart care team also develop an individualized treatment plan designed to address your specific situation.

Cardiac Catheterization and Electrophysiology Labs

As part of your personalized comprehensive treatment plan, you and your OU Health heart care team may take advantage of multiple sophisticated onsite cardiac catheterization and electrophysiology labs. In these special OU Health facilities, you may participate in a wide range of noninvasive and minimally invasive diagnostic tests and procedures that support an accurate diagnosis and help determine appropriate treatments for a variety of conditions affecting your heart rhythm.

Leaders in Minimally Invasive Ablation, Device Placement

At OU Health, you benefit from the extensive experience of groundbreaking OU Health electrophysiologists, including Dr. Warren Jackman, who invented catheter-based ablation for many types of arrhythmias, and Dr. Dwight W. Reynolds, who pioneered minimally invasive pacemaker implantation procedures introduced here at OU Health.

These cardiology/EP experts continue to teach upcoming generations of OU Health electrophysiologists—as they and their colleagues also help you and your friends, neighbors, and others from across the nation by performing hundreds of pacemaker placements, defibrillator (ICD) implantations, catheter ablations, minimally invasive revisions to previous procedures and pacing device lead extractions each year.

No matter where you live in Oklahoma or across the region, you also benefit from OU Health as a regional referral center for electrophysiology (EP) procedures, including complex lead extractions.

Symptoms of Irregular Heart Rhythm

Arrhythmias, the most common indicator of a problem with the heart’s electrical system and its ability to maintain a steady heartbeat, appear in many forms and may involve symptoms such as:

• Dizziness, lightheadedness
• Fainting (syncope; vasovagal syncope) or near-fainting spells
• Fatigue, weakness
• Palpitations – Flutter, quiver, irregular heartbeats
• Rapid heartbeat or pounding in the chest
• Slow or fast alternating heart rate
• Sweating

Chest pain or pressure may indicate either arrhythmia or heart attack. If you feel like you’re having a heart attack, call 911 immediately.

Heart Rhythm Conditions

Problems involving the electrical system in your heart encompass a wide range of conditions, including:

• Atrial fibrillation (Afib) and other arrhythmias – Irregular heart rhythms
• Atrial flutter – Incomplete heartbeat resulting in fast heart rate
• Atrial-ventricular (A-V) heart block – Interference in electrical signals between upper chambers (atria) and lower chambers (ventricles)
• Congestive heart failure (CHF) – Heart muscle no longer pumps effectively; contributing factors may include amyloidosis (abnormal buildup of protein in organs and tissues) or sarcoidosis (scarring of heart tissue)
• Dysautonomia – Malfunction in part of nervous system that acts unconsciously to regulate internal organs, including heart rate
• Genetic arrhythmias – Gene mutations that cause a variety of arrhythmias such as long Q-T syndrome, Brugada syndrome, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC)
• Inappropriate sinus tachycardia – Fast heart rate occurs with no obvious reason; type of arrhythmia
• Postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) – Unusually high increase in heart rate when standing up
• Premature ventricular contractions (PVC) – Abnormal heartbeats triggered from ventricle instead of sinoatrial (SA) node in right atrium
• Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) – Unusually fast heart rate (atrial tachycardia); usually affects young people
• Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome – Congenital condition causing rapid heart rate, especially in children or teens; affects fewer than 1 in 100 people

For SVT, PVC and many other arrhythmias, EP ablation procedures often achieve a 95 percent success rate, meaning the problem disappears and doesn’t return. For atrial fibrillation (Afib), catheter-based ablation can prevent further heart-rhythm events and improve your symptoms and quality of life.

Heart Attack Symptoms - Get to know the American Heart Association’s warning signs of heart attack. For immediate help, call 911.

Advanced EP Diagnostic Technologies at

OU Health

To better understand and monitor your current heart rate, electrical function, risk and related conditions, you and your OU Health heart care team may recommend your participation in an electrophysiology (EP) study or other diagnostic options such as:

• Cardiac imaging – Uses advanced technologies, including cardiac MRI, cardiac CT or nuclear imaging (nuclear stress test), to visualize heart muscle and structures or damage from conditions (amyloidosis, sarcoidosis) related to heart failure
• Exercise stress test – Uses physical exertion to induce arrhythmia
• Holter monitor or event monitor – Uses portable device to record electrical activity in the heart during daily life
• Tilt table test – Helps find cause of fainting by changing posture from lying to standing
• Procainamide challenge or epinephrine test – Uses specific medications to stress the heart and create arrhythmia; for people unable to tolerate exercise (treadmill) stress test

Electrophysiology Treatments & Services

Trust the electrophysiologists on your OU Health heart care team to provide extensive counseling about your condition, procedures, treatment options and next steps as you work together to develop an accurate diagnosis. Your personal heart care treatment plan may involve one or more electrophysiology procedures and services, including:

• Arrhythmia and device management – Collaborates with OU Health heart failure team to monitor arrhythmias, manage implanted devices for proper operation and to provide long-term follow-up care
• Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) – Uses dual-chamber pacemaker to coordinate timing of upper and lower heart chambers; for people with heart failure
• Catheter ablation – Repairs heart tissue with alcohol solution, extreme heat (radiofrequency ablation/RFA) or extreme cold (cryoablation) using minimally invasive, catheter-based techniques; OU Health specializes in complex ablations for high-risk accessory pathways such as WPW syndrome
• Dysautonomia, POTS – Offers programs to address challenging conditions related to lack of nervous system control for heart rhythm, heart rate and blood pressure
• Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) / pacemaker-defibrillator – Involves implanting small pacing device to start or regulate heartbeats or reset abnormal heartbeat; option at OU Health for subcutaneous (under skin) ICD implantation
• Lead extraction – Removes implanted nonworking or infected electrical leads used by pacemakers or ICDs; you benefit from 30+ years’ experience of OU Health performing complex minimally invasive procedures that involve multiple leads and/or serious infection
• Medications – Offers pharmacological, noninvasive options for people unable to tolerate surgery or who prefer to avoid open surgical procedures
• Nephrology de-clot procedures and catheter placement for kidney health
• Permanent pacemaker (PPM) placement– Implants heart pacing device with or without leads (leadless pacemaker) based on your diagnostic evaluation; you benefit from OU Health leadership and 40+ years’ experience in EP-performed pacemaker/ICD implantation
• Revision of previous procedures – Corrects issues related to previous ablation procedures and/or complex ablations

Your team also helps keep you safe during procedures with high-resolution images and comprehensive information from advanced precision guidance technologies including:

• Biplane X-ray – Uses two X-ray sources for greater image clarity and quality
• Intracardiac echo – Creates detailed ultrasound-based images for precision guidance during minimally invasive procedures
• 3D mapping – Develops high-resolution images of organs and structures within your individual anatomy for accurate evaluation, precision guidance and safety during cardiac ablation procedures

Innovative Research & Fellowship Program

When you choose OU Health for EP services, you work with the expert cardiologists who deliver top-quality care as they also train the next generation of electrophysiology professionals. The exceptional care you count on from your OU Health electrophysiologists stems, in part, from serving as the region’s only EP fellowship-based training site. During your care and treatment at OU Health, you also may gain early access to innovative EP devices and procedures developed through your team’s participation in a variety of research studies and clinical trials.

Your Expert Electrophysiology Team

At OU Health, you or your loved ones work with a multidisciplinary team of extensively educated electrophysiologists, cardiologists, cardiac surgeons and diverse physicians in related healthcare specialties, including world leaders who invented EP-performed catheter ablation for many types of arrhythmias and pioneered minimally invasive procedures for pacemaker/defibrillator implantation and revision. You can count on receiving top-quality, long-term, compassionate care from your professionally trained EP specialists, support staff and other heart care team members, as you also benefit from original research and advanced technologies.