Ablation Worries

[cherylttt]

Hello All,

I had a pulmonary vein ablation on Tuesday. They, the doctors, had a difficult time accessing all the areas. I also have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and that makes my heart walls thicker, which is the reason for the difficulty. They ultimately succeeded in all areas except the lower right saying that possibly “significant edema” was the cause of not getting through.

My worry is that if they didn’t get to all areas then the ablation might fail. The report, however, says the ablation was successful. Confusing. Has anyone had a similar experience?

Thank you,

[Ppiman]

I think in all ablations the doctors are forced to be very conservative in what they do, for safety's sake.

Given what you have said, I suspect all will be well and I think you can definitely remain hopeful that your AF will not recur or at the least, will improve in severity a great deal. For now, though, you need to allow time for the heart and the ablation to settle and heal, perhaps for a couple of months. This is a time some doctors call the "blanking period" as during it, they "blank" their concern at any AF recurring. That said, I had a really severe episode of AF following my stopping the tablets after my ablation (in 2019 for atrial flutter, a different arrhythmia) and I did have to go back into the hospital, but a single dose of 5mg bisoprolol worked well to stop it, following which all was well. I have since developed some AF and have lots of palpitations, but am generally well.

Steve

[cherylttt in reply to Ppiman]

Thank you for the reply. Wise words. They do help alleviate any worries. I will try to patiently wait.

[Buzby62]

I think a successful procedure and a successful outcome need to be looked at differently. You will only know if the outcome is successful in time as we can still be improving up to a year later as the scar tissue forms and heals. I’m at 4 months now, feel good and still feel it’s too early to say yet. See my bio by clicking on my badge.

Best wishes

[cherylttt in reply to Buzby62]

Thank you for your reply. Up to one year? I did not know that, but very helpful in putting things into perspective. Glad you are doing well.