A question about ablation procedure

[Euve]

I am going for an ablation next month during the ablation do they speed up your heart to see where the afib is coming from? I was just wondering thank you

[BobD Volunteer]

They can map it yes although with cryo they tend to just zap the four pulmonary veins. They don't "speed it up" as you say although they do have a drug which can create AF if they want to check if they have got all areas.

[JohnEagel]

Hello mate,

good luck for your ablation.

Had mine 2 years ago. First they did a surface mapping with a 252 electrode vest and then went in with the katheter. Full GA so did not remember a bit. EP told me during the post op debriefing that they were able to induce Afib in the left atrium and AFlutter in the right (using drugs).

Ablation took 2.5 hours. Then a short cooling period and another go to try and induce AFib or Flutter again.

EP said they tried hard but were unable to get AFib started again. Then they wrapped up and all was over in about 3.5 hours total.

Take it easy for the first few weeks. Have someone stand by to change the TV channels for you

Fingers crossed

Cheers

J

[IanMK]

EPs have very clever technology to 'map' the electrical activity within the heart and they use this to determine precisely where to ablate. Cryoablation is generally used only for pulmonary vein isolation and RF ablation is more appropriate if 'spot treatment' is required.

My SVT stopped under anaesthesia but the EP had a drug in his toolkit to get it going again. Apparently he was very thorough in his efforts to induce further arrhythmia towards the end of my ablation procedure so my risk of recurrence is now likely to be less than the risk of occurrence of SVT in the general population.

[Hambo444]

I had cryo and they just went in and zapped mine..although in my vase they found I had 5 pulmonary veins

[Stumpy47]

Hi ,I had an ablation for svt 3 weeks ago, they used a drug to bring on svt to see where the reentrant pathway is then ablate & repeated it as the svt came back 2nd burn worked a treat, no svt's since but everything needs to settle down ( up to 3 months). Being off Bisoprolol is a bonus too.

[Cassiebell]

Hi

I had my ablation in March, EP had already ‘mapped’ the electrical activity within my heart so knew where to ablate. I was really worried about the EP speeding up and slowing down my heart but that was not necessary. I was told the ablation would be around 2 hours but was back in my room within 45mins! I was in shock at such a short procedure. So far so good I have come of Nebivolol completely and an only taking 50mg in the evening of Flecainide will always have to take Apixaban. Going back yo Papworh in July for check up and hopefully come of Flecainide we will see, good luck with your ablation I was absolutely terrified but it really wasn’t as bad as I thought.

[allserene in reply to Cassiebell]

Interesting that you will always have to take anti-coag, and why is that ? I thought once we had stopped futtering and fibbing, that there was no reason why a clot would form. Do you have some other condition to necessitate the anti-coag ? It costs $300 dollars a month in the US and that's after insurance, and seeing as I will outlive the D-day veterans, that's a lot......

[Kaz747 in reply to allserene]

I shared this link earlier today. It may answer your question about anticoagulants.

healthline.com/health-news/...

[allserene in reply to Kaz747]

Interesting.... full of 'may' and 'likely' and 'possibly' and 'can' words. This appears to be based on patients surveys and perhaps many who report their afib 'cured', never even had ablation.... I would report no further instances of flutter at this moment although I gave not been ablated. I am doing eliquis until I get checked by an EP. It seems to hinge on whether you are still fibbing/fluttering sometimes and unknown to you.... I speculate that if you do your BP Monitor daily and it reports normal and you feel fine, then the possibility of a hidden condition must be very low, and the people who are eventing and getting strokes have not been ablated and are not using a monitor every day.. The report doesn't go into those areas. If it was reported that after ablation and careful daily monitoring, people were still having hidden events followed by strokes, I would be more alarmed...

[Cassiebell in reply to allserene]

That’s precautionary really as possible TIA back in 2017 my cardiologist wants me to stay on them as apparently when you are 65 with a history of AF you would be put an anticoagulants anyway, I have already been on them 2 and a half years and I’m 62

[allserene in reply to Cassiebell]

It's me that's awkward and I always want to know 'why' and see the logic... My mother used to say that if I had a pig, I would kill it to see where the squeal came from....If the Doc says its impossible to tell if someone has hidden afib going on then I could accept that as a valid reason, but I have never heard that said and I think it would show on my THREE monitors even if I couldn't feel it...... This need to have facts and logic is what led me to resign from the Primitive Methodists in 1958..lol...

[Brizzy50000]

I had my ablation last year in may and was in AF when I went in, they did the ECG and said I had atrial flutter as well as AF, the EP said that's ok we will do both at the same time which he did and I have been AF free since.

Good luck hope all goes well.

[emilyboom]

My ablation was January 2018, my procedure for SVT sounded much like previous entries total time was five and a half hours. Procedures was a success and off all meds since. I would suggest practice meditation now and sleeping on your back if not already, keep focused and relaxed and go along with the ride.

[MydogBrandy]

I echo everything that has been said, especially practicing lying on your back, this was the hardest part, having to keep still for so many hours. I am now 5 months on and feel great, off all meds. Good luck, keep calm and carry on as they say. x