After having ablation what are the chances of having to have a pacemaker fitted also what effect does having af have on your heart surely it

[barnes12]

Must wear it out even if you have nothing else wrong with it

[Hidden]

Hi Barnes12,I,ve had both done last year and in my case as far as i understand the pacemaker was fit to combat a missed heart beat were as the ablation was for the rogue electric signals sent to the heart where scar tissue is used to block the paths,so it dosent always follow that after an ablation you have a pacemaker fit

[barnes12]

Thanks for your info argzxoni61

[Beancounter Volunteer]

Hi Barnes 12

Two separate questions, and if I may separate them. OK let's start with I am not an ablation expert never had one nor medically trainied in any way, but my understanding is that an ablation works on the Atria, the upper part of the heart. A pacemaker however works on the Ventria the lower part of the heart. It's the ventria that pumps the oxygenated blood around the body and that not working is even more serious than an Atrial problem.

So anyone who has had a pacemaker fiited is not due to AF itself, but due to a Ventrial problem as I understand it, and it then takes over the timing of the heart beat for you. Very serious AF which doesn't send any signals at all to the Atria can cause you to need a pacemaker.

But it's perfectly possible to have a pacemaker fitted and still have A Fib, in fact we have heard from a number of people for whom this has happened, even after an AF node ablation.

The second question is what long term effect does AF have on the heart, (I translated that slightly) And that I do worry about being in persistent AF. All the advice is that as long as your resting heart rate is not too high even with AF (mine is around 80) then it's doing no long term damage, if however your resting heart rate is higher and/or is your are getting episodes with very high heart rates indeed, the this can cause damage to the heart muscles as I understand it.

Hope this helps

Ian

[farmerwalt in reply to Beancounter]

Hi Ian, Ok on the pacemaker.

However, there seems to be different opinions between Cardio's and EP's about the effect of AF on the heart. My resting HR is 42 - 45 and I have Dilated CardioMyopathy, (DCM)(enlarged atrium) of the left atrium, that my cardio and EP said is a result of the heart trying to compensate for the reduced pumping action of the left atrium. Had a visit to the EP last Tuesday, when he did another echo and said that my cardiac output has fallen even further due to the DCM. Should also have said that I am permanent AF with heart block, hence the low resting HR and I am not on any rate or rythmn control drugs. Only on a couple of vaso-dilators to reduce the load on the heart.

Walter.

[Beancounter Volunteer in reply to farmerwalt]

Completely agree Walter, very much a difference of opinion, and one that I am very much in the middle of.

I do have very slight Cardiomyopathy, but is that caused by the AF? or there before and due to previoius lifestyle very hard to say, and is it getting worse?. Hopefully they are now monitoring that.

Ian

[Offcut in reply to Beancounter]

I concur with that Beancounter. I have had 3 ablations first was the 4 pulmonary arteries the second was the atria chamber 38 burns 7.5 hours the third was going to go though into the second chamber and ablate a rouge spark, that they thought was in that part of the heart but it failed. I was going then to have a Pace and Ablate but they have shelved that now for other problems coming to light.

I was told that the pacemaker will control the tachi side but will not get rid of the AF. I do still get episodes of both

[BobD Volunteer]

Hi Barnes, a Ian says a Pacemaker does not affect AF one iota and is normally only used when Pace and Ablate is offered.they fit the pacemaker and then once it is established they ablate the AV node. The Pacemaker then takes over the ventricular control but has no affect on the atria which can continue to fibrillate if it feels like it. The difference is that with a paced ventricle you do not get the tiredness symptoms of AF whilst maybe still feeling the fluttering butterflies in your chest.

Pacemakers are sometimes used where normal heart rate has fallen to a dangerous level .

Bob

[wpw62]

I had a pacemaker fitted 20 years ago for heart block. Suffered from Wolff parkinson whyte syndrome all my life and had an ablation for that Now I have PAF which has a direct link to the WPW. So egg begat chicken in my case

[Offcut]

I was due a Pace and ablate and they told me it will not get rid of the flutter. I have tachi problems as well as other problems. I had a pulmonary ablation and then a 38 burn to the main chamber still get AF and tachi on 2 x 80mg sotalol and 125 mg digoxin but still have episodes. My lung problems have now been diagnosed and my pacemaker has been put on hold until they do some more tests. They have told me that they do not want to do anything else to the heart as they feel I would not survive the operation! At least they have been straight with me.

[mumknowsbest Volunteer]

Pace and ablate does not get rid of any of the arrhythmias, as you say just no symptoms, or not incapacitating ones. Although ectopics can be pretty aweful at times. Good luck

Eileen

[ronz11 in reply to mumknowsbest]

Hi Eileen. I am new here and still learning terminology. What is ectopic?

[beardy_chris in reply to ronz11]

Hi Ronz, Welcome! (On the whole, it is best not to re-open a four month topic - no problem, it just is a bit strange!). An ectopic beat, in layman's terms is an extra beat - sometimes experienced as thump-thump-thump- thuTHUMP - thump or similar.

[Hidden]

I have AF too, My understanding from consultant is ablations isn't successful all the time, nobody can know if yours would or would not return or be successful for any time. It comes down to what you want. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... has info on it that will tell more. hope you get sorted and are happy with the result. Makes a big difference when heart works right.

Carole