During a recent thread the question arose regarding arterial lines (often radial ) installed during ablation. Sam had one during her SVT ablation recently.
Not knowing the answer to this I approached the font of all knowledge (identity withheld) and the following is his reply.
"It may be the choice of the anaesthetist particularly if they are not very experienced in looking after ablation patients . I only ever work with the same anaesthetist and we use an arterial line maybe once every 3 to 4 years in very very frail patients. They may also be used in VT ablations when one might expect cardiac arrest during the procedure. Never heard of it being used for SVT ablation.
In general (not referring to these cases) the higher the volume of the centre and the operator the better the outcomes and the simpler the procedure. Often patients assume that anyone allowed to do these cases must be OK but that is not always the case, hence the mortality for AF ablation in US being 1:300 an unbelievably high rate and much higher than high volume centres (less than 1:1000). "
So take from that what you will. I think we all knew that the more experienced the EP the better the outcome but I am amazed at the mortality figure for US ablations. Hope that doesn't trigger a rush of health tourism to London or Bordeaux.
be well everybody
Bob
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As you know I had a Atrial Tachycardia ablation 4 weeks ago.
The anaesthetist was clearly very experienced and my EP even wrote to me the other days singing her praises. She was also experienced with my specific issues and allergies as it was she who cared for me so well in September last year.
She had lines in both my wrists, I assume my arteries, together with both my hands.
The ablation was carried out at a leading UK centre of excellence.
Never before, for my previous AF ablations have I had lines in my wrists.
The procedure has "so far" been a success and there seems to be no current danger to my mortality.
But were these cannulas or catheters Pete? An arterial line suggests a catheter. I can only report what I have been told and won't reveal my source other than this is a leading UK EP. If you PM me where it was done we may find something out.
I guess the arterial lines were catheters. Those into my veins being cannulas.
Maybe as this particular procedure was for Atrial Tachycardia and not AF and they were using newish 3D mapping technology they needed these catheters as well as those passed via my groin.
When I woke up and saw these extra entry points I was really glad I had had GA.
Thanks bob , I will find out from them on my next check up what was actually done, my arm is still bruised from whatever it was they put in there . But I also no that over the years they suspected I had VT . My technician told me that from when I was getting my implant recorder checked every 3 months. But I do no this ? They gave my heart a good run on the lab table , when I say good I mean gave it a kicking, apparently I was left in a fast rythem for half an hour to see if the procedure was successful or not for the AFib and SVT they found . So maybe it was the right thing to do incase I went into cardiac arrest while that was going on . Also I agree with Pete as the technology mapping system has came on in the last couple of years , and I do no Glenfeild was the first hospital in the U.K. To use this. Professor N.G can be found on YouTube. Also I have not seen many people on here from having ablations from Glenfeild. I can take that as good as this to me means they are probably having good outcomes from there procedure so not on here for advice. I will definitely find out about this all on my next appointment . I do reamber the nurse telling me when I woke to get on with my life as I was fit and that they got it ! The EP also made it very clear if I ever did in the future need another ablation procedure? He would do it no problem. It's the mental part I am having issues with now as waiting for it to happen again . I find this quite hard because I wasn't ready for this part . Thanks again bob 👍🏼😊❤️
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