Cardiac Ablation
Things You Should Know About Heart Arrhythmia and Cardiac Ablation
If you or someone you care about has heart arrhythmia, an irregular heart beat, one way to correct the problem is a procedure called cardiac ablation. It is also referred to as a radiofrequency catheter ablation or simply catheter ablation.
Electrical impulses keep your heart beating steadily. Arrhythmia develops when the impulses are hindered from following the exact pathways necessary to maintain an even heart rate. This hindrance can be from structural abnormalities such as defective heart valves. Ablation means to destroy, and the procedure destroys or removes the offending abnormalities.
In patients who have Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a cardiac ablation is the treatment of choice, but in most cases, medications are tried first.
If medications don’t work or if the patient is high risk, i.e. in danger of cardiac arrest, a cardiac ablation will be preformed.
It is not highly invasive like open-heart surgery, and has a faster recovery time. The operation is done by threading a catheter (a very small flexible plastic tube) from a vein in the groin area up to the heart. Then the abnormalities are corrected, and your heart can beat normally again.
Cardiac ablation caries risks as any surgery does, including bleeding and infection. Specifically, there is some risk of artery or vein damage, or a blood clot causing a heart attack or stroke. Other potential risks are heart perforation or a collapsed lung. If a certain area of the heart is involved, there is a chance that the heart will beat too slowly, and the patient will need a pacemaker permanently. The risk of needing a pacemaker in this case is 1%. In the other types of ablations, the risk of needing a pacemaker is zero.
The procedure lasts from 2 to 6 hours (usually closer to 6). You will be in bed from 1 to 5 hours after the process is complete. It can require 1 night in the hospital. You will feel discomfort when the catheter is inserted into the groin but you won’t feel it being inserted into your heart. In the first days after the operation, some people have a sensation of their heart beating faster or differently. This is a transition phase, which your doctor will monitor carefully, and not cause for concern or worry.
Recovery is fast, with very little pain post op. There is usually soreness in the chest. Some patients can return to work in a day or two. Patients may be prescribed versed for post op pain; rarely are narcotics needed. Some patients do not need to take any drugs at all.
The medical advances in this day and age are amazing. It is miraculous that someone’s heart can be worked on to that extent, and they are able to resume normal actively in a day. Although there is a lot to gripe about, the economy, war, homelessness…the fact that we can be “fixed” and go on living healthy lives when such complex health conditions arise, is something to be thankful for.
It provides a feeling of hope that future generations of the best and brightest will find cures for almost every ailment known to human kind.