For years, Luis struggled with the symptoms of atrial fibrillation, the most common type of irregular heartbeat in adults. His shortness of breath, weakness and palpitations became more and more frequent, affecting his quality of life.

"It got to the point where I could barely carry out my normal activities," he said. "I was on prescription medication to control my rhythm, but it was a scary situation all the time because it just kept happening."

Luis’ symptoms eventually led him to the emergency room, and his cardiologist referred him to Daniel Benhayon, MD, cardiac electrophysiologist with Memorial’s Cardiac Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Management Program. Dr. Benhayon performed an atrial fibrillation ablation, which is a minimally invasive procedure that restores the heart’s regular rhythm by isolating or destroying the area of heart tissue that causes the rapid and irregular heartbeats.

"There was no cutting or sewing," said Dr. Benhayon. "We simply used the veins and arteries as points of entry to reach the heart with specialized catheters that have the ability to move inside of the heart. We also perform these procedures with minimal radiation exposure to the patient, something unique about our technique and not offered elsewhere in South Florida."

In addition to a highly qualified and experienced medical team, Memorial Healthcare System offers its patients an electrophysiology laboratory featuring the latest technology, catheters and mapping systems, all of which are not widely available in South Florida.

Luis, whose symptoms have disappeared since he had the ablation in October 2015, describes the procedure as "absolutely painless." He was able to resume his normal activities right away, and is thankful to Dr. Benhayon and the Memorial team for helping him feel well again. Everyone was very supportive, he said, and he just knew he was in good hands.

"My experience at Memorial was amazing," he said. "I wish I had done it sooner and avoided all those years of suffering."