League Tables

[mullikg2]

Are there any league tables listing the best performing practitioners for ablations.

[BobD Volunteer]

Short answer no. One normally needs to ask each EP about their results.

[PeterWh]

FYI this has been discussed in posts previously (some may well have been before you were a member). Personally I think that it is a very good job there aren't because this could deter EPs from doing procedures on many people. Just considering AF there is atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation and there are loads of subclassifications.some examples (and this may help you phrase your questions).

If someone has flutter the success rate is 90% the first time and overall approaching 99%. If someone has persistent AF the success rate first time is 20% to 30% and overall 60% to 70%. Therefore a marked difference. Also there is no standard definition as to what success means and very importantly the time span. Therefore one consultant could determine as success as being in NSR two months after ablation and the next one six months after ablation whether they are on medication or not on medication and the third consultant 2 years on no medication except Anticoagulation. Therefore it is like trying to compare apples with oranges with melons.

In my case I had read up a lot from the AFA website as my EP had strongly recommended me to. I had a cardioversion and only stayed in NSR for 24 hours. At the following consultation he said that the only realistic option for ME was an ablation (ie drugs were not). He said had I seen the AFA info and I said yes. I then asked him to be open and honest with me as to what the chances of success were in MY case. He said in MY case zero percent first time but he would bring forward the 3 month post ablation consultation to 6 weeks in the hope that I was still in NSR. In the event I lasted less than 72 hours. Overall he said it would quite possibly take 3 ablations (ie not unusual).  BobD had three ablations.

Hope that helps.

[mullikg2 in reply to PeterWh]

PeterWh &BobD Many thanks for your replies. You have brought up several points that I had in mind especially the measurement of success but the140 letter limit prevented me. I may have to have an ablation in the not to distant future and am led to believe that there can be a fairly large difference in the practitioners abilities, hence the original question.