Atrial Tachycardia or SVT post ablation for AF

[stagecoach]

I recently had my 3 month check up following a PVI ablation for paroxysmal AF and at the time things were OK. Less than a week after the review I had either Atrial Tachycardia or SVC . It lasted for a few minutes, then a few minutes later another one which lasted for about an hour. A week later I had another occurrence which lasted for a few minutes.

I have read that AT/SVT can occur after an ablation and that the heart is still healing and it may go away by itself (in about 40% of cases). Has the happened to anyone here? If so, how soon after the ablation did you start to get episodes and for how many weeks/months before the episodes went away?

For those of you who have had an ablation for AT/SVT after an AF ablation, how frequent were the episodes of AT/SVC that made you want to have a second ablation and how long after the first ablation did you have an ablation for AT/SVT?

Thanks, sorry there is a lot of questions...

[Padayn01]

Hi Sorry to hear that you still having episodes after 3 months, are you still on any beta blockers, i'm at the moment 9 weeks post ablation and had a few runs of irregular fast heart rhythm but i'm still on my medication till i see Cardiologist in December

[stagecoach in reply to Padayn01]

Thanks, No, not on beta blockers. I'm on Diltiazem and a low dose of Flecainide along with additional Flecainide as PIP. I had fast regular heartbeat about a week after the ablation and then nothing since, until these.

[BobD Volunteer]

My ATach always happened about three or four months after my ablations for AF. At that time they always needed cardioverting. For some ten years after my AF stopped I would get ATach events maybe every two years which again needed DCCV to correct until in 2017 the DCCV stopped my heart completely and I needed CPR and other intervention to regain life. That event prompted my EP to say that if I went into AT again he would do an ablation for it. In Jan this year I did and in August he did. That made four ablations but of course that for A T is more complex than for AF.

[Gowers in reply to BobD]

Did you find recovery easier or more difficult after the 1st ablation?

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Gowers]

I'm nearly eleven years older now so much more slow and difficult. There again memory plays tricks so maybe not?

[stagecoach in reply to BobD]

Thanks Bob. I'm waiting to hear back from Arrhythmia nurses to see if I need to change medication. Did you have to change meds each time?

Scary DCCV... so far been fortunate enough not to have needed cardioversion.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to stagecoach]

Most of the time I was not on meds apartf rom warfarin which I will never stop. What happened to me is very rare, in fact one leading cardiolgist told me that although in the text books in fifty years he had never encountered it. Just goes to show that nothing is without risk.

[Rubymurray25]

On the basis we are all so different I will share my experience. I had my only ablation 31st May this year, 7 days afterwards I was in hospital for the weekend with a full on AF episode which eventually stopped with an intravenous cardioversion. My cardiologist said he wasn't surprised as I had a lot of work done , I was kept on 100mg x 2 Flecinaide for three months and then cold turkey and have been feeling well within myself ever since and that included a general anesthetic for a hernia , something I was so concerned about in case it triggered off AF. I do get the occasional strange missing beat feeling but am able to get through it with a simple breathing exercise.

[Mandy232426]

Hi. Your story is a mirror image of mine. I had my 3 month check last week. Up to that point I had had one fast run, first week after ablation, then nothing apart from the odd missed beat.

12 weeks, then 2 separate days of feeling like I was going into AF. I am on tender hooks now and scared that my AF is coming back. I am still taking 100mg of Flecaninde and beta blockers.