Savannah Electrophysiologist Dr. Daniel Cobb uses the latest technology to treat arrythmias, other electrical issues of the heart

SJ/C: Why did you decide to become a doctor?

I decided when I was in high school. I gravitated towards the sciences and medicine and being involved in the forefront of technology.

SJ/C: What made you go into the specialty of cardiology with a subspecialty of electrophysiology?

I became interested in cardiology in medical school. I did a rotation at a VA hospital, and we got exposed to all aspects of cardiology – interventional, diagnostic imaging, inpatient consultants. It is a specialty that allows you to still practice internal medicine while also performing procedures. It offers medicine and surgical procedures and diagnostic imaging, so it includes a wide variety of things I can do to help patients.

SJ/C: How would you describe electrophysiology?

It’s been around for a number of years, but I’d say it’s a newer subspecialty of cardiology that has really taken off in terms of what we have to offer patients in therapeutics. It’s a subspecialty that deals with treatments of arrythmias, particularly with a focus on ablation therapy or medical therapy for treatment of arrythmias. (An arrythmia is an abnormal heart rhythm.) We also focus on device management, such as pacemakers and defibrillators.

SJ/C: What are some common conditions you treat and procedures you do?

AFib, or atrial fibrillation, is large portion of what I see. (AFib is a common arrythmia where the heart beats irregularly and out of sync.) Atrial fibrillation ablations are probably the No. 1 procedure I do on any given week. Watchman implants, either with ablation or independently is another big portion of our practice. There are also ablations for other different types of arrythmias. And, people show up with slow heart rates and need pacemakers all the time.

SJ/C: How does technology help you help patient?

Technology plays a major role in what we do in the lab at St. Joseph’s Hospital. We’ve really been on a rocket ship in the last two years with the technology that we use, particularly with the type of ablation that we use for AFib right now. Pulsed field ablation is a new ablation tool, which has really changed the face of how we do ablations with really good outcomes and safety profiles for patients. We also use all kinds of aspects of imaging to include fluoroscopy, which is like a live x-ray, in addition to ultrasound or echocardiography.

The mapping systems we use for ablation are just incredible. The technology allows it to take so much data from inside the heart, which we call intracardiac electrograms, that allows us to map complex arrythmias and reproduce these visual representations of the electrical circuit in the heart. That then allows us to pinpoint the area we need to focus on.

SJ/C: What do you see in the future for electrophysiology?

Pulsed Field Ablation is really changing the way we’ve traditionally done ablation. Previously, most of us used radiofrequency for AFib ablations, which basically heats up the heart muscle tissue to achieve the desired effect. Pulsed Field Ablation is a non-thermal ablation modality which uses electrical pulses to affect the cardiac muscle cells in order to treat arrhythmias. 

Additionally, we are now able to offer leadless pacemakers which are completely self-contained and avoid traditional wires and are placed via veins going into the heart. Also for people with heart failure who need biventricular pacing, we now have leadless capabilities that are beginning to be available for certain patients who may not be good candidates for traditional therapies.

SJ/C: What is some common heart health advice you find yourself often sharing with patients?

Obesity is the No. 1 contributor to atrial fibrillation. It’s also probably the biggest thing we face as an impediment to recurrence rates and failure rates with ablation. One thing I tell people when they come into the office is if you can do anything for yourself it’s lose weight. No. 2 is sleep apnea; undiagnosed or untreated sleep apnea is a big driver. And, just bad living, such as excessive alcohol use – all the things that are bad for you can be a big driver for a lot of the conditions I see.

Family: Wife, seven-year-old daughter
Hobbies/Interests: Big outdoors guy – boat, surf, kite surf, fish, hunt, golf, tennis and plays guitar