RF Balloon Ablation?

[msraye777]

Hi guys, you all tend to give pretty solid advice so I figured I'd posed the question here. I was scheduled for cryoablation on June 11th, the hospital needed to reschedule due to equipment failure. Then on the 18th, I was cancelled because I'd need a TEE and they hadn't gotten insurance approval for that. SO I was just contacted by my EP's office asking if I'd be interested in a study undergoing RF balloon ablation. My question is, has anyone here participated in this? If so, what was your experience. If not, has anyone heard anything about it whether positive or negative?

Thanks!

[Hidden]

Methinks that it is a procedure which follows the principle of a cryoablation but instead of the expanding balloon freezing the tissue around the pulmonary veins it burns them using radio frequency. I don’t know if it’s used in the UK much, when I mention it to my EP he didn’t seem all that enthused. Others here may know more.......

[msraye777 in reply to Hidden]

It's being tested in the UK as well. There will be up to 640 people in the study at 40 clinics worldwide. Parts of the device, are already approved in the UK but not the US. My EP seems super excited, I'm just unsure about being a guinea pig.

[Hidden]

I was advised by a retired cardiologist (a friend of a friend) that a key factor in the success of an ablation is the number of times the operator, in fact the entire ablation team, have carried out the procedure- skill matters in an ablation more than in many other heart procedures. Given this, I would suggest that you are cautious about putting yourself forward for this procedure. At the very least, I would want some very detailed information about it.

[ultramarine]

Are you sure of the surgeon? I had 4 veins ablated not by balloon procedure, but this surgeon had done hundreds of ablations we all have different types of A/F I had both AF/SVT and the surgeon would need to know about this condition. I have not looked back since this was done in 2016 and have had no episodes except for one small flutter after eating MSG 621. I didn't think they used this method anymore, mine was the freezing type,

I think you need to ask more questions before you agree.