When Dr. Robert M. Sangrigoli was a resident at Temple University Hospital in the 1990s, the Philadelphia campus was emerging as a major world center for electrophysiology, or EP, the study of the electrical systems that control the rhythm of the heart. The young doctor wanted to be a part of that excitement.
"Philadelphia was an early leader in the development of electrophysiology," said Dr. Sangrigoli with Central Bucks Specialists Ltd., since 2001. "There are probably more electrophysiologists in this area than anywhere else in the country."
It may have been relatively new when Dr. Sangrigoli was a resident, but today cardiologists are increasingly looking toward EP as a way to treat different types of heart disease. Once, electrophysiologists focused solely on treating irregular heart rhythms. While that is still a primary area, cardiologists are now learning that electrical stimuli can also repair damaged heart muscles, a leading cause of cardiac failure.
"By placing pacing wire on certain locations in the heart, we can actually strengthen heart muscle, and that's been an exciting development in the last five years," Dr. Sangrigoli explained. He also noted major improvements in treating atrial fibrillation, a leading cause of strokes, by using tiny catheters to deliver stimuli to the affected area, eliminating the abnormal rhythm.
It's an exciting time for the 38-year-old Bucks County native whose father and mother were both Italian immigrants. Dr. Sangrigoli went to Bishop Egan High School and Villanova University before attending medical school and training at Temple, where he was chief resident.
In addition to his degree, he gained something else on campus: a wife, also a cardiologist. Dr. Renee Sangrigoli specializes in congestive heart failure at Central Bucks Specialists. The couple has two children.
Dr. Robert Sangrigoli is enthusiastic about both his family and his work. He marvels at some of the recent advances in electrophysiology, such as the ability to monitor pacemakers remotely. Patients once had to come in for regular check-ups, he said, "but now we can [monitor them] from hundreds and even thousands of miles away."
