Ablation or Medication??

[falah12345]

drugs.com/news/should-you-p...

[colin772]

For me, definitely ablation.

[sleeksheep]

If you have atrial fibrillation and are symptomatic

Well since I am not symptomatic I will rely on CV and drugs untill they fail.

[falah12345 in reply to sleeksheep]

I was under the same impression until one of the drs said the sooner you do the ablation the better other wise it will be less effective

[sleeksheep in reply to falah12345]

I did query my cardiologist about an ablation but in his words - my symptoms dont require it and the risk / reward is marginal.

Reading the article I did notice it is specifically directed at symptomatic patients who the vast majority are - I am one of the minority.

As I am in NSR and have been told I can have a CV within 5 days if its required I am not overly worried about using medication.

[doodle68]

Interesting article Falah thank you

This is the most important part for me...

Quote=

''Dr. Satjit Bhusri is a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Reviewing the new data, he said that the trials give doctors and patients valuable guidance.

First of all, he said, if your a-fib isn't so bad that it harms your quality of life, perhaps controlling it with medicines alone might work. However, when quality of life is affected, a move to ablation therapy may be warranted, ''

I cope well with my P-AF and don't allow it to affect the quality of my life so will stick to medication.

[Buffafly]

In this country if you are reliant on NHS the choice is academic unless you are offered an ablation, which you would then have to decide whether to accept, delay or refuse. You are unlikely to be offered an ablation if you are not symptomatic although a NHS protocol I downloaded says that ablation is cost effective and preferable for younger patients. I will see if I can find and post separately.

[djbgatekeeper]

You will know when it's time for ablation, I lasted 4 years on meds and then within 6 months my symptoms became more and more frequent to a point where my QOL was so poor I had no choice but to have the procedure. Not something I enjoyed and I was scared stiff but now 6 months on my heart is 99% better than before. Fingers crossed it stays that way.