Has anyone had the unfortunate experience of ending up in complete heart block after an ablation. I recently had a PFA done by the world renown Dr. Andrea Natale at his clinic in Texas for aflutter and fib. The ablation was successful so far but during the procedure after ablating the flutter I had an episode of atrial tachycardia which was treated immediately but resulted in complete heart block. This is a known risk and one that is often transient but now over a week in and I am still in heart block. I have a pacemaker so it was just a matter of reprogramming the pacemaker to AV pacing. Needless to say I am not very happy about this and I am hoping it will reverse itself which sometimes can take a few weeks. I would appreciate if anyone had the same experience they would be kind enough to share. Thank you.
Heart Block after ablation: Has anyone... - Atrial Fibrillati...
Heart Block after ablation
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Above link is from the HealthUnlocked BHF forum which may/may not be helpful but you may want to post there.
If I may ask, what advice was offered post-op by Dr Natale ? And with a pacemaker were your afib symptoms concerning and an ablation was necessary ?
Thanks for posting. Interesting story we can all learn from. Best to You !
There is a risk of complete heart block with pulsed field ablation as with and ablations in general if the ablation is done near the AV node. I was in aflutter so that was the reason for the ablation. And yes an ablation was necessary given the effects it would have on my EF had I remained in flutter for an extended period of time. No advice was offered after the procedure other than the hope my AV node fully recovers. As it stands I remain in heart block and I am worse now than before the procedure because of it.
Have you considered a second opinion/evaluation if symptoms persist ?
Again, thanks for sharing and Best to You ! And if not many replies here, suggest checking other afib forums like Facebook.
not much to do at this point but it should be a caveat for anyone going through an ablation this is a possible risk. This is life changing and life ending for sure. Should the AV node not recovery any hopes of resuming a normal level of activity is over.
Sorry to hear about this. It must be quite a rare occurrence, but obviously always a possibility if ablation is carried out very close to the AVN. You were/are certainly in the best hands with Mr Natale - he has a VERY solid fan-base over on the predominantly US afibbers forum.
Maybe I'm not understanding correctly here, but life changing yes, but life- ending?! I know a lot of folks with a PM pacing their ventricles and they have very full and active lives.
Anyway, hoping things back to normal sooner rather than later for you.
"I am worse now than before the procedure because of it". So, given the choice again would you have the ablation?
Probably not in the same context as what you have experienced but I went for an ablation after suffering from wolff Parkinson's white syndrome, anyhow when they found the pathway that needed ablated it was located next to my AVN, I was pre warned that there was a high chance of damaging the AVN during the ablation. Previously I was informed I was 5x more at risk of having a stroke or blood clot so it was a no brainer, went ahead with the ablation and they took out my AVN and inserted a 2 lead pacemaker, I now have total heart block.
Not long after I went into afib and heart failure, my ep said the heart failure was pacing induced and it took 2 and half years to upgrade my pacemaker to a 3 lead CRT Pm so both ventricles are paced now, this happened last October, I then had a cardioversion last December.
My EF has improved 54% so out of heart failure and still out of AFib.
Can't say I feel like I used to, still get flutters, ectopics daily with the odd palpitations but no where near as intense and the duration before and my ep doesn't seem to be concerned.
Don't think il ever get back to full strength and good energy levels and I'm only 53 it certainly has taken its toll on me but staying positive.
Sorry to hear. I lost a nephew to WPW a few years back. Went undetected and he crashed while playing volleyball. Only 26. 53 is young by my standards. I am optimistic the function may return. I was only atrial paced prior to the procedure. I can definitely tell a difference from a stamina standpoint. Appreciate your response. And staying positive is the operative word for sure. My mood has definitely been down since the procedure
Ive had an AV node ablation, which i suppose is like having a deliberate heart block ? Im still getting lots of heart palpiations and heart thumps. Hopefully they will deminish with time so i suppose your situation may diminish in time ?Colin NZ
Why the nodal ablation?
Assume a disorder of the av node. I had afib and aflutter and bradycardia slow and tachycardia fast. I was given a lot of drugs which most people can take but i had no such luck so it was place a dual lead pacemaker in and then destroy the av node. Its working better and i dont have the side effects of drugs to have. Im happier, just need to get over the thumps
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