ablation

[Ralves]

Hello! i will do an ablation in exactly 3 weeks and i was told to stop my medicins 7 days prior to the surgery. I take 200mg tambocor and 75mg metoprobol daily. Anyone has experienced the same procedure? pretty scary to just think about stopping the medicins. thanks in advance.

[BobD Volunteer]

I hope you will not stop your anticoagulant.

[Ralves in reply to BobD]

im not taking any anticoagulant at the moment(only tambocor and metoprobol). Perhaps after the surgury i will.

[BobD Volunteer in reply to Ralves]

That is dangerous. Normal procedure is to be on anticoagulants for at least a month prior to during and for a short period after ablation to prevent any micro embolii which may escape and cause stroke or dementia.

[Ralves in reply to BobD]

im not taking any......i will ask the doctor. Thank you for your answer.

[riffjack846]

I'm in the USA and had an ablation on the 30th and the only medicine I didn't take was my amiodarone 1 day prior. Eliquis, metoprolol, and my BP medicine I never stopped taking. Those surgery guidelines don't sound right.

[Ralves in reply to riffjack846]

Thanks for your answer. I know it sounds off ...I know i have a ventricular problem and i need ablation but I don't know if that will make difference when it comes to stop my Medicins 7 days before.

[Fullofheart]

I've had 3 ablations this last year in the UK....not as scary as you imagine but I was advised to keep taking all my meds pre and post.

[Fullofheart in reply to Fullofheart]

And DEFINITELY anticoagulation.

[Ralves in reply to Fullofheart]

Thank you for your answer

[pottypete1]

I have often commented about this before.

I find it amazing that with such a well practiced procedure there are so many differences in approach.

For me, I have had 7 ablations, I was always told to keep taking Tambacor (Flecainide) and to keep taking Warfarin ((anticoagulant).

Regarding the anti coagulant they also checked that my INR reading was within the therapeutic range of 2-3.

My ablations were all carried out at a major cardiac hospital with a designated rhythm management department.

My layman’s view is that there must be best practice.

Pete

[Ralves in reply to pottypete1]

Thank you for your answer. Its definitely weird that i was told to stop my Medicins 7 days before.

[wilsond]

Yes please check this. Especially the anti coagulant. Even if you are not high risk usually for blood clots, as in zero score on Chadsvac( an international stroke risk scoring system) as Bob says ablation can stir up mini bits and cause trouble.Very important to prepare against it!

[Ralves in reply to wilsond]

Will check with the doctor 🙏 thank you!

[Sharonsue]

I stopped all my meds before ablation 7 days before. My ablation has been successful for 6 months. They put me on different meds after the ablation. Hope to be able to stop mrds within the year if I have no afib.

[Ralves in reply to Sharonsue]

Thank you for your answer! I read today that some people that do the ventricular ablation stop their Medicins before surgery. Best of Luck to you!! I'll do mine in 2 and half weeks.

[Sharonsue]

I am sorry...I did not stop my blood thinner.

[SeanJax]

During pre op before ablation and during ablation the ablation team will use heparin as anticoagulant regardless of you taking DOAC or Warfarin or not. Evidently after ablation they will put you under DOAC.

Also all anti arrhythmic drugs need to be stop days before ablation depending of its half life. If they do just PVI it is not big deal but in US they do extensive mapping to find all the rogue sources at least for the expert ablationists and ablate all of them . If they don’t stop anti arrhythmiac drugs they cannot see the rogue sources during the mapping. It explains the difference between UK and US.

In US for the average ep skills set, the ones with low volume of ablation yearly, they just do the cryoablation technique which is easier to do with less risks. If you do only PVI and leave the other rogue sources, Afib will come back and it explains somebody has 4 or 5 ablations and still the issue is not resolved. Anyway Afib is a progressive disease another rogue sources can happen down the road if you don’t control all the Afib risk factors.

You will be OK . Pick an expert ep. By it I meant the one who did already hundreds and hundreds ablations already. The volume of past ablations is the key of its success. Also the mapping system is critical to find all the rogue sources. The expert ablationists use very advanced mapping system and it is expensive too.

[Ralves in reply to SeanJax]

Thank you so much for your answer and explanation 🙂

That helps a lot! I'll do my surgery in Norway in the hospital that does a lot of ablations.

Hopefully everything will be fine. 🙏

I take tambocor 200mg and metoprolol 75mg Daily and still have sintomas almost everyday specially when I lay down before bedtime.

I wonder how i will feel after i stop the medicins acutely 7 days prior to surgery. That scares me but like you said they need to see where it cames from in order to do a good jobb!

[Snowgirl65]

Before my ablation in early December, I was told to not stop my anticoagulant, and only stop Metoprolol two days before the procedure. Perhaps a call into your EP would be in order to make sure your instructions are correct.

[Ralves in reply to Snowgirl65]

Thank you for your answer! Will do that 🙏

[DesertTrailRunner]

I have an ablation next week and was told to stop all supplements (vitamin, mineral etc supplements) but to continue taking all prescription meds (anti-coagulant, metoprolol) as usual.

The time I’m supposed to arrive is 5:30 AM so I won’t take anything that morning before the ablation and will resume the anti-coagulant in the evening afterwards. (My daily med schedule is 8 AM and 8PM.

You might ask them to clarify.

[Ralves in reply to DesertTrailRunner]

Thank you for your answer 🙏