Healing Hearts: Pulsed Field Ablation & Humankindness

Charles Von Schmidt expected high-quality care as a heart patient at St. Luke’s Health-The Woodlands Hospital. What he did not expect was to be so pleased with every interaction, from the parking valet to the receptionist to his physicians and nurses. He wrote to the hospital to thank them.  

“What I've experienced from the very first visit was extremely personalized service, but more importantly, it is obvious everybody cared. At a lot of places, you feel like they're just doing the job. But here, even the volunteer at the front desk couldn't be happier to help. And it was that way all through the process. I honestly don't think that the president could have felt more special. It was above and beyond what I expected,” the 67-year-old real estate developer said.

Von Schmidt had a health scare while on vacation in Mexico. His heart was alternating between racing and dropping to dangerously low levels, leaving him weak and short of breath. He had previously seen Woodlands North Houston Heart Center Cardiologist Vincent Aquino for treatment of atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heartbeat. Within days of his return to his home in Livingston, Texas, he saw Dr. Aquino and St. Luke’s Cardiac Electrophysiologist Scott Greenberg, who scheduled Von Schmidt for a pulsed field ablation, a minimally invasive treatment that uses electrical pulses to get rid of problematic heart tissue.

According to Dr. Greenberg, pulsed field ablation is a new type of energy used to perform atrial fibrillation (AFib) ablation. “We had been using two different energy sources: cryo (freezing) and radiofrequency (heating),” Dr. Greenberg explained.  “Pulsed field ablation was FDA-approved in January of 2024 and works by only targeting cardiac tissue and removing misfiring electrical signals that trigger AFib,” he explained.

The procedure was successful, resolving Von Schmidt’s issue. His prognosis is very good.

“I think the whole world needs to know about pulsed field ablation and just what a difference maker it is. The positive effects were immediate, I actually felt the difference while still in the recovery room, my heart felt smoother, stronger, and I no longer felt faint upon standing. I experienced zero pain from the procedure, and the wound was tiny, more like two bug bites than a surgery entry point and it cleared completely in a matter of days. Perhaps most importantly, my stamina has returned quickly and the positive difference in energy levels has been noticeable.”

“Thanks to this amazing team, I’m no longer worried about my heart constantly, or needlessly making business decisions based on the potential of dying. Best of all is the security of knowing that should the need arise, I could call on Dr. Aquino and know he would stop whatever he is doing and he and the St Luke’s staff would take care of me. That provides comfort beyond words,” Von Schmidt said.

Some examples:

• The recovery nurse who let Von Schmidt stay an extra hour in recovery for observation, to be sure he and his wife would have no hiccups during their almost two-hour drive home. “Who does that?!” he said.
• The prep nurse who saw him in 2024 remembered him ten months later. “For her to remember me as an individual a thousand patients later is just remarkable,” he said.
• The nurse practitioner who thoroughly reviewed a list of permitted activities to avoid any issues during recovery. “I had no idea of some of the scenarios that she brought up, and her proactive approach answered questions that I did not even know enough to ask. In my opinion, this is practicing medicine in its highest form,” he said.

“I feel the massive financial investment made by St Luke’s Health-The Woodlands Hospital in being one of only a handful of hospitals nationwide that have implemented this treatment speaks volumes about their commitment to providing the patient with only the highest standards of care. No one wants to have heart problems, but if you do, this is where I want to be treated,” he said.

Von Schmidt feels great now and is thankful for the humankindess he experienced at St. Luke’s-The Woodlands.  “The cure is 50 percent of the game. The other 50 percent is the how – how did you get cured; how good did you feel about it; and how positive was the experience?” he said.  “You just couldn't make this any better.  I've experienced a high level of care, great accuracy, a phenomenal staff with a lot of technology, and there is a heart in the center of it - human beings that really care.”