In the US, hospitals are ranked by specialties. For example, the Cleveland Clinic is number one in cardiovascular. However, I haven't been able to find any consistent rankings in the UK.
Please share any lists or personal knowledge, of the best cardiac hospitals and EP's in the UK, or elsewhere in Europe.
I'm considering Pulse Field Ablation for my afib, which will not be available in the US for a couple of years, except on a trial basis. But currently is being offered in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Thanks.
Jim
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mjames1
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There is a list of EPs by area in Patient Resources on our main website but there are no league tables as such. Not British what!
Hi Jim,
I would be interested to know who determines the Cleveland Clinic as No. 1. Is it somewhere which available to everyone or only to a select few who are well insured. Are all assessments made by an independent body or a highly efficient and effective marketing department 😉.
In the UK we do have some hospitals which are referred to as “Centres of Excellence” such as Barts, but I’m not entirely sure who make that distinction and what it’s based or assessed on.
I believe Prof. Michel Haïssaguerre from Bordeaux, France probably considered to be one of the most experienced EP’s in Europe. Good luck in your research…..
Prof Haissaguerre heads up the Bordeaux team but no longer performs ablations - PFA or RF - himself. His colleague Prof Pierre Jais does. For my money Bordeaux is the place to go bar none.
I recall reading here that here in the UK Bart’s and Pap are currently both using PFA but probably only on a trial basis.
You asked" Is it somewhere which available to everyone or only to a select few who are well insured."
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I'll answer briefly because a discussion of our respective health care systems is a whole other discussion. Cleveland Clinic (CC) is a major public teaching hospital and educational and research center and takes most major insurance plans including medicare. I assume it also takes Medicaid for those who fall below a certain income limit, but I'm not sure. Other than that, as you know our medical systems are different.
CC is ranked #1 by U.S. News (link below) and others. If interested, U.S. News has a list of criteria they use. Just keep scrolling down the page.
Pulse Field Ablation for atrial fibrillation. It's a newer technology that is showing similar or even better results than RFA and Cryo, but with what purports to be a better safety profile, meaning less potential damage to the esophagus and surrounding tissue.
Thanks. There may be some ongoing trials in the UK, but PFA is now available out of trial in the UK at least at some centers. I have spoken with the Bordeaux Clinic but am also looking at UK centers. It's just in the US, I know who is who, but not so much on the other side of the pond.
that would be good news for us here in the UK but I don’t think that’s the case sadly. Royal Papworth carried out the UK’s first pulsefield ablation middle of last year and they are leading the trial across a number of English hospitals which is about to start/just started.
I did call Bordeaux a couple of months ago, but the language barrier was a little problem. I do plan to follow up, as they have probably done more PFA's than anyone else.
Dr. Hocini and Dr. Jais, the electrophysiologists do speak English. Their booking secretary , Stephanie (I believe was her name) also does. I had three ablations there in Bordeaux and had no language problems, granted the nurses speak very little English.
I had three ablations there -- two in 2017 and 1 in 2019, which means that all three were before the PFA time period which was very experimental then, and, at the time, was not developed for persistent patients.
I suggest you speak with Dr. Jais because he is heavily involved in the PFA procedure.
Of course, these ratings are somewhat subjective, but if you go to the various web sites that do the rankings, they usually list the criteria and selection process. U.S. News and World Reports is often used here in the U.S. but there are other lists if you search.
I'd head to The Radcliffe Oxford with professor Tim Betts. One of the UK's well recognised EPs. I've heard he does it there. Though Mummylove implies this may not be the case. I understood ftom my own EP that PFA was bring trialed there.
Check out hospitals ranked as Centres of Excellence then track record CV etc of individuals in departments.
this will be correct singwell, there are a few English hospitals taking part in the pulsefield trial being led by Papworth. It’s either just started or about to kick off. It’ll be exciting to see how this goes and lucky folk who get to access the trial as so far the US results at Cleveland clinic I understand have been good 👍
pS what is CE marked? Never heard of that. Just looked it up and can see it is the device QA rather than the procedure/treatment path which is what NICE is.
Looking at different options, including RF and Cryo. The one downside of PFA, other than the travel, is that I recently learned it's only done under general anesthesia (GA). I would prefer conscious sedation (CS), given I'm in my 70's.( I realize there is data on both sides of that debate.) In the US, they use GA like aspirin and hard to find any time of ablation under CS. My understanding is that CS is frequently used in Europe for Cryo and I think RF as well. So, choice might end up between Cryo or RF under CS, or PFA under GA. Prefer closer to home, but haven't ruled out crossing the pond, if I can't find what I want here.
I asked the AFA some years back if they had a list of the mapping technologies used in each hospital in the UK. They didn’t. At the time new mapping systems were coming through and it seemed to me that aligning a really experienced EP with the best tools available was the holy grail. Now of course you can add Pulsed Field Ablation to the criteria so the field narrows even more.
Hi mjames1 During my AF research I stumbled across a useful resources/ website which lists all the hospitals(NHS&private) registered with NICOR (National Institute for Cardiovascular Outcomes Research) undertaking complex & simple ablations (both RF & Cryo. & also pacemaker implants It shows the total number (per hospital) of each procedure, success rate upon completion, intervention after one year & two years, & lists all the cardiologist/electrophysiologists, & numbers of ablations they perform each year.It allows comparison between different hospitals & consultants in terms of hospital &consultant experience & success rates at completion of procedure & at 1 & 2 yrs Was useful for me when deliberating over whether to stay with my local NHS hospital (Midlands: New Cross hospital ) or ask for a referral to another hospital .
as it happened I found I was in excellent hands at New cross under Dr Petkar
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Thanks for the well wishes. 
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