Professor Tom Wong

Clinical expertise

Professor Wong specialises in treating patients with complex heart rhythm abnormalities in advanced disease states and complex cardiac anatomies, including heart rhythm disturbances originating from the atria and the ventricles in congenital, inherited and acquired heart disease.

Procedural expertise:

• catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, atrial tachycardias and ventricular arrhythmias
• catheter ablation and device therapies in patients with congenital heart disease
• pacemaker implantation and management, including conventional, CRT, conduction system pacing and leadless pacing
• ICD implantation and management, including transvenous, trans-femoral, CRT and subcutaneous systems
• extraction of pacing and ICD leads and systems
• left atrial appendage closure

Biography

Professor Tom Wong received his undergraduate degree from the University of Aberdeen. He completed the postgraduate fellowship in electrophysiology and pacing at St. Mary’s Hospital, London in 2005. He was then appointed as the consultant cardiologist and electrophysiologist at Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in 2006 where he is the lead of the arrhythmia clinical services and research programmes of both hospitals since 2014. His career focused on seeking and providing the best care to patients with heart rhythm abnormalities through research and innovation.

Professor Wong received the People of the Year Award from the Association for Disability and Rehabilitation in 1995, a Master’s Letter of Commendation from the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators in 1996, and the Young Investigator Award from Heart Rhythm UK in 2005.

Research

Professor Wong’s research programme relates to his clinical interests to seek a better understanding and treatment of arrhythmias in advanced disease states and complex cardiac anatomies.

He conducted an ARC-HF clinical trial (NCT00878384), the first to show the beneficial effects of catheter ablation in cardiopulmonary performance compared to drug therapy in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation and heart failure. He published the cost impact of the left atrial appendage closure in stroke prevention based upon the UK cost model to inform the economic benefit, beyond the clinical needs, of this treatment to patients at risk of stroke. He completed NIHR funded, CASA-AF trial (NCT02755688), which is the first to show that catheter-based ablation to treat longstanding persistent atrial fibrillation is as effective as a surgical approach. In addition, his research group continues to investigate novel mapping, ablation, and device-related technologies with the aim to improve clinical outcomes.

Publications

Professor Wong has published more than 100 original research papers in peer-reviewed journals. For a complete list of publications please click (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6484-4961). A selected few papers as below:

• Catheter ablation vs. thoracoscopic surgical ablation in long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation: CASA-AF randomized controlled trial. Haldar S, Khan HR, Boyalla V, Kralj-Hans I, Jones S, Lord J, Onyimadu O, Satishkumar A, Bahrami T, De Souza A, Clague JR, Francis DP, Hussain W, Jarman JW, Jones DG, Chen Z, Mediratta N, Hyde J, Lewis M, Mohiaddin R, Salukhe TV, Murphy C, Kelly J, Khattar RS, Toff WD, Markides V, McCready J, Gupta D, Wong T; CASA-AF Investigators. Eur Heart J. 2020 Dec 14;41(47):4471-4480
• Outcomes and costs of left atrial appendage closure from randomized controlled trial and real-world experience relative to oral anticoagulation. Panikker S, Lord J, Jarman JW, Armstrong S, Jones DG, Haldar S, Butcher C, Khan H, Mantziari L, Nicol E, Hussain W, Clague JR, Foran JP, Markides V, Wong T. Eur Heart J. 2016 Dec 7;37(46):3470-3482
• A Randomized Trial to Assess Catheter Ablation versus Rate Control in the Management of Persistent Atrial Fibrillation in Heart Failure (ARC-HF). Jones DG, Haldar SK, Hussain W, Sharma R, Francis DP, Rahman-Haley SL, McDonagh TA, Underwood SR, Markides V, Wong T. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2013;61(18):1894-903
• Mechano-electrical interaction late after Fontan operation: Relationship between P-wave duration and dispersion, right atrial size, and atrial arrhythmias. Wong T, Davlouros PA, Li Wei, Millington-Sanders C, Francis DP, Gatzoulis MA. Circulation 2004;109:2319-25