What is involved in an Ablation

[lmoore]

I have recently been diagnosed with AF & been insructed by my GP to take Sotalol & Apixaban which appears to have AF under control

I am a 68yrs old female & had an appointment with cardiology for a check up & was offered an ablation & as I was told to go alone I was not prepared & I did not fully understand the reason for this

Why have an ablation, what is invloved, what does it achieve & how does it work

Please can anyone exlain this to me as I am very worried & concerned

[BobD Volunteer]

Go alone due to covid restrictions. Go to AF Association website and down load the fact sheet on ablation found under patient resources for total knowledge.

[Dodie117]

It’s difficult to get your head round AF at first but it does get easier when you have information and understanding of your condition.

Paste this link into google and read the booklet. It’s very helpful.

heartrhythmalliance.org/afa...

Come back with questions after you have read it and people on here will give you lots of support.

Good luck ☘️

[momist]

I'm very surprised that you have not had more responses to your query. Maybe it's the 'Sunday' effect?

Anyway, AF is a very variable thing and everyone is different. There are several types of AF, paroxysmal, persistent, permanent, silent. Many people write/talk about P-AF, which usually means paroxysmal AF where the person gets 'bouts' of AF happening at random intervals, anything from hours apart to days, months or even years apart. Paroxysmal AF often involves very high heart rates.

The Sotalol is a beta blocker which should reduce your heart rate, and this can both help to stop the AF happening so often, and also protect your heart from the effects of going so fast. The Apixaban is an anti-coagulant (often mis-named as a 'blood thinner') which is to protect you from the increased risk of stroke which people with AF have. The accepted belief is that you will have five times the risk of having a stroke than the average person without AF. The anticoagulant lowers this risk back near normal.

There are also different forms of ablation, using cryo (cold) or radio frequency (hot) instruments to treat the inside of the heart to attempt to stop the stray electrical conduction which cause the fibrillation.

You really should read as much as you can on this forum, and on the AF website, to learn about AF and try to get an understanding of the issues before you accept the offer to have an ablation. The main problem is that paroxysmal AF tends to get worse over time, if left untreated, and can lead to it becoming permanent or causing long term changes to the heart muscle.

Good luck on your journey, there is much to learn.

[secondtry]

I think the 'ablation route' sounds a bit sudden. Ask, ask, ask.... why now, what is involved including the checks necessary before they ablate and the likely success rate in your case.

[beano2013]

Sotalol and apixaban have been v effective for me. Had ablation but only lasted 18 moths. Procedure straightforward but I bled heavily and required it to be redone.

[Ducky2003]

I'm concerned that your cardiologist didn't explain what's involved and why it would be necessary. The fact sheets are very useful but I would want to speak to the consultant again.