Hi all,
Just wondering about a couple of things and would very much appreciate your views/own experiences.
I've had two ablations - one 5 years ago and another 3 weeks ago. Both by Prof Jais at Bordeaux. Lone PAF (always nocturnal) since 1999 (likely earlier) now age 61. CHADSvasc 0 and no co-morbities. Last episode 25/10/22 to date of ablation 03/01/23 so now persistent - although mainly AT interspersed with bits of AF (always AT at 120 bpm or so whilst up and about) rather than AF.
Each time I've had pretty much no reduction in ectopics afterwards relative to before. I often read patient accounts on US forums who've had ablations by Natale who claim they never get a single ectopic again afterwards. Lucky them ! Me ? 3 weeks after my last ablation (3 hr procedure comprising Marshall PLAN ablation for persAF - i.e. alcoholisation of Vein of Marshall (this encouragingly converted AF to AT), ablation of AT (back into NSR) and anatomical lines using PFA (!) and then PVI touch-up using RF) and I'm still getting circa 100 PACs per day and a few short runs (2 or 3 seconds) of PACs each day pretty much like I always have this last 20 years.
I appreciate that the 2 to 3 month blanking period is there to allow for post-ablation inflammation in all of its guises - some of which is acute in nature and some of which maybe does take a few months to settle down fully.
I appreciate that we're all unique experiments of one, but has anyone here had a successful ablation (no reoccurrence of AF/AT > 30secs duration for at least 12 months) but who has still had as many PACs AFTER the ablation as they did BEFORE the ablation ?
Has anyone here had an ablation that eradicated pretty much all of their PACS AS WELL as their AF/AT ?
Another thing - resting HR before and after ablation. Many folks here report their resting HR is 10-20 bpm higher after the ablation (lasting this way for 6 to 12 months). Many EPs consider this a good sign (of a likely more successful ablation outcome) rather than bad. Mine has remained pretty much the same after both of my ablations as it was prior (maybe 5 bpm more but certainly not 10-20 bpm more).
Has anyone here had their resting HR stay much the same post ablation as it was prior whose ablation was successful ?
Looking forward to hearing from you guys !
Cheers,
Mike