Curious about ablation

i;VE BEEN WONDERING HOW LONG DID YOUR ABLATION TAKE ?

[BobD Volunteer]

Interesting question Vintage-me but to some extent not really relevant or at least not the right question. .

All my three took between four and four and a half hours but were radio frequency PVis the last two with additional burning to other areas. Richard Schilling in a recent video posted here claimed that he could do cryo PVI in and hour and a half tops. I am pretty sure that he said he has done three before lunch!

I have seen people here claiming six hours or more but of course none of this really matters if it is successful. Also I personally counted the time from when they put me out to when I woke up again. I always ask the time just before they put in the fairy juice and again when I wake up for any operation or procedure because I'm anal like that. I guess others use the same system and of course we all have different recovery rates.

There is no doubt that cryo ablations are quicker because once the catheter balloon is positioned it is one injection of gas rather than lots of different RF burns and again no doubt that for simple PVI the cryo method is more likely to produce good isolation. Where there are other areas of the atrium firing off then Cryo can't deal with them so RF is then needed.

So you see it is not such a simple question as how long.

Bob

[Dee1989 in reply to BobD]

Professor Richard Schilling is my consultant, my first ablation which had to be aborted due to a rare find was 1.5 hours. My 2nd ablation was also by prof Schilling was assissted with the Hansen robot and took around 4 hours as I remember. Not sure of the exact time but I was taking down around 2ish had to wait a little while before they started and was back on the ward for 6.30 that day only two of us had ablations with him on this particular day. It depends what the findings are and if they are straight forward cases or not. Both of us on this day were a little more unusual.

[CDreamer]

I had 2, in 2013 & 2014, both took about 7 hours however I had several complications which did not show up on the pre ablation tests.

I understand since then the procedures and the equipment has improved tremendously and Prod Schilling - my ablations were performed by one of his team - say that often they take maybe 1-2 hours? I think depends if RF ablation or balloon cryo which are quicker. Mine were RF as I have hole in the heart in unusual place and 3 not 4 pulmonary veins which make me unsuitable for balloon cryo.

I think you will get quite a variance in times - mine were both under sedation, not GA which made recovery very rapid and I was home the next day and pretty mobile around the house and back working part time with in a few weeks - as I was self employed I arranged my own schedule and I was mainly sedentary.

Hope that helps. It really is not a major procedure but you do need to be careful during the healing process to not overdo things, which I did after the first ablation, meaning they had to go back in and patch me up - no problems with my heart since and no meds for AF.

[jeanjeannie50]

My first radio frequency ablation took three hours. My second which was meant to be a quickie actually took six hours and the person who was due to be ablated after me was sent home. During the last ablation I was cardioverted twice too. Both procedures were carried out under sedation only. My family were frantic during the 6 hour one as I'd told them what I had been told, that it would be very short just 60-90 minutes. It took me a long time to feel better, had the last one in June 2013 and can remember still not being able to walk far in August.

I guess until your EP does the procedure he doesn't know how many areas he'll find that need ablating.

Jean

[dedeottie]

5 hours but a lot of that time is preparation. I had a toe first so that was at least Half an hour ( 15 mins for the job and 15 mins to persuade me that it would be o.k.....it was! ). Then they took ages connecting things and explaining what was going to happen. Then the actual procedure. I was heavily sedated and cant remember the passage of time. I was shocked when i realised how long i had been in the cath lab. X

[Rellim296]

I took a photo of my notes second time round. First drug was administered at 14.40 and last one 16.30.

[Hidden]

4-5 hours but time flew by.

[SRMGrandma Volunteer]

Mine was 9 hours start to finish. They notified my husband around midday to say they had finished one side of the heart and were starting the other, so he wasn't freaking out with worry. The reason it took so long was that my anatomy made it "technically very difficult" and I am not a candidate for a second ablation.

[howesgilly]

I had mine pre Christmas and was cryo ablation and only took 2 hours. I was quite surprised at the time

[KipperJohn]

Mine took about 3-4 hours including prep time in the cath lab - they built what looked like a small tent over me! One does lose track of time under the sedation but I remember both the nurse and doctor talking to me and when they stimulated a few things. I was cardioverted at the end of the procedure as I'd gone into AF.

That was last July and I'm due another one fairly soon, only this time I understand it will be under a general anesthetic.

[PeterWh]

Mine was 6.5 hours start to finish. About 15 mins for TOE and 15 mins at end for a DCCV.

[Mama48]

I had Cryoablation at the end of Nov. Done by Richard Schilling. According to my husband I was gone for just over an hour!

[checkmypulse]

2.25 hours...................RF PVI Ablation

[Hidden]

7hrs. start to finish, I was told. For me I just shut my eyes and then woke up. I felt fine, went home the next morning Absolutely no symptoms. I would recommend going to a university hospital if you have a choice.