What is the procedure for an Ablation? What are the risks?

[Phyllis Catching]

I have had a Pacemaker since 2007. I was recently in the hospital for Atrial Flutter. My heart was shocked back into rhythm. I thought that was what the Pacemaker was for, to pace my heart. Now they want to do an Ablation. I am scared because when I looked up information on it, it said it takes from 4-8 hours to do it. Why so long? Any information you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I forgot to add that I have had two valve replacement surgeries, one in 1998 and with a pig valve, and one in 2004 with a mechanical valve. I had Aortic Valve Stenosis both times. The pig valve only lasted 6 years,

 

[Greg a]

Phyllis, a heart felt WELCOME to our OHS family there are many members here who have undergone an Ablation and more at this Pacemaker/ICD page http://www.icdsupportgroup.org/board/index.php,there is a wealth of knowledge here for the future .....


-Bob/tobagotwo has up dated a list of acronyms and short forms http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=8494&d=1276042314

-what to ask pre surgery http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...68-Pre-surgery-consultation-list-of-questions

-what to take with you to the hospital http://www.valvereplacement.org/forums/showthread.php?13283-what-to-take-to-the-hospital-a-checklist

-Preparing the house for post surgical patients http://www.valvereplacement.org/for...Getting-Comfortable-Around-the-House&p=218802

These are from various forum stickies and there is plenty more to read as well


And Lynw recently added this PDF on what to expect post op
http://www.sts.org/documents/pdf/whattoexpect.pdf

 

[kfay]

I have had a Pacemaker since 2007. I was recently in the hospital for Atrial Flutter. My heart was shocked back into rhythm. I thought that was what the Pacemaker was for, to pace my heart. Now they want to do an Ablation. I am scared because when I looked up information on it, it said it takes from 4-8 hours to do it. Why so long? Any information you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I forgot to add that I have had two valve replacement surgeries, one in 1998 and with a pig valve, and one in 2004 with a mechanical valve. I had Aortic Valve Stenosis both times. The pig valve only lasted 6 years,

Phyllis, The ablation will hopefully allow them to go in and find the area in your heart that is causing the a-fib and then ablate that area so that it won't cause you any more problems. It takes probably an hour to get everything set up once you are in the room and to get the caths put in your heart. From there, the time just depends on how difficult it is to track down the area that is causing your problems and whether there is more than one. Most people who have them are sedated, although still awake. I can't say that lying on that table for hour after hour is the most comfortable thing in the world, but they did try and make me as comfortable as they could. It is very similar to having a heart cath, which I'm sure you've had, just much longer. I had two ablations in 2009, one lasting about 8 hours and the second lasting 7, neither with any sedation at all and only the second with a little pain medication towards the end and I survived! That isn't the norm, but I agreed to that because I knew what we were trying to find was very difficult and the drugs they would have given me would have only made it more difficult.

You've had two heart surgeries, so this will be a breeze to you. You'll be fine. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Kim

 

[Bryan B]

Phyllis,

I had an ablation this past summer for A-Flutter. The first time I was admitted they were going to do a cardioversion. Once they put you out (which they do for cardioversion using propofol) they perform a TEE before starting the procedure to make sure there are no clots present. Well they found one so they had to abort the procedure. I went on Coumadin and had to wait 6 weeks before trying it again.

When I was readmitted 6 weeks later they decided to do an ablation. The doctors said that they decided on this because they have a much higher long-term success rate. They may have not knocked me completely out but I don't remember a thing about the procedure like I have with a regular heart cath. Mine only took 2 hours but they may have located the problem quicker and it may have been less complicated than other patient's causes for A-Fib/A-Flutter. It was completely painless, but I had to lay completely still for 6 hours afterwards. I have stayed in rhythm since the ablation (close to 10 months).

As far as your pacemaker I don't think it provides the amount of "juice" (for a lack of a better word) to shock your heart back into rhythm.

 

[Phyllis Catching]

Thanks everybody. I understand it a little bit better now. I have an appointment this week to talk to the Dr. about this. I still have a lot of questions.