Questions to ask Electrophysiologist

[Amelia123_usa]

I am considering having an ablation. I have appointment to speak with EP next week. What are the important questions to ask him?

[BobD Volunteer]

What are his results like, how many has he done and when did he last kill anybody. That is what I did and when he said never I told him to put me on the list for the week after he did so I would know he would be VERY careful.

[secondtry]

If you speak to a carpet salesman you will end up buying a carpet. That's not to say ablation is not appropriate for you just a caveat.

I would ask what 'complications' has he had with other ablated patients.

I would also bear in mind a delay is not necessarily all bad as the procedure improves as time goes on.

[Ppiman]

I can think of four questions.

My first would be, if I do not have an ablation, will my heart continue to work healthily in the future? One unlikely consequence of certain arrhythmias, including AF, can be heart failure, and taking measures through drugs or ablation to avoid this prognosis seems to me to be paramount.

If the answer to this is, as is likely, that your heart is otherwise sound and not at risk, then a second question arises. This one depends on how well you cope with your symptoms and how these affect your quality of life, which are for you only to decide; however, a question for your doctor is how worse they might get in the future and whether an ablation at this point would likely help. In this sense, if your future heart health is as secure as can be determined at this point, then any treatment becomes purely symptomatic.

A third question would be, without an ablation, will continued drug treatment be safe and not affect my future health in any way? Allied to this, a fourth would then be, will I still need drug treatment if the ablation is less than 100% successful (as is rather likely - a second is common).

Phew! I hope you find answers. One problem I always wonder about with asking a doctor whose livelihood comes from performing ablations might just be that they view the procedure very differently from, say, a cardiologist who uses only drug treatement.

Steve

[bean_counter27]

If he was in your position what would he do and why? And if you're feeling cheeky, ask him who he'd want to do the procedure 😄

[etheral]

Ask about Tikosyn. It has kept me afib free for 5 years now without ablation.

[cockerfarley in reply to etheral]

What's Tikosyn

[BobD Volunteer in reply to cockerfarley]

Not available here in UK.

[etheral in reply to cockerfarley]

Sorry, thought I read in your bio you were from the US. Best of luck..etheral

[SeanJax]

how many ablations did he/she do a year and success rate. If you hear too many run away. What techniques will be used? And complications rates? Usually 1k a year is a good number.

[Abbyroza]

Ask him if he can guarantee you that you will be better off healthwise after the procedure and if he can be 100 % sure that he is not going to puncture your heart, damage your esophagus or cause another, much more bothersome arrhythmia.

[2learn]

Hi, what is his incidence of his patients having strokes within 20 days of ablation. apparently risk of stroke lasts for 20-30 after ablation.