Ablation for Atrial flutter

[Praline]

Last week my heart rate was over 135 at rest. My cardiologist said it was atrial flutter. He gave me digoxin and it seems to have regulated my heartbeat and slowed it down. I have an appointment next week to talk to an electrophysiology cardiologist. When I talked to him on the phone last Friday, two options that he mentioned were meds and ablation. He seems to think that an ablation would get rid of the flutter permanently.
I am scared of the meds. I read all about ablations and that does not sound too reassuring either.
I was wondering if anyone of you had an ablation for Atrial flutter. If yes,what was it like? Did it work?
When I had my OHS January 18, 2006, the surgeon did a Maze also.

 

[RCB]

Sorry about your problem

Sorry about your problem

Praline,
I know having A-Flut. can be very unsettling, however I would try some more drug therapies before I went with ablation. Some med are quite easy to tolerate, your doctor should try the least harmful first. EP docs love to do procedures, often at the expense of the pt., who gains nothing. You need to visit some of the AF forums to understand this about EPs.

As far as what it is like- well almost exactly like a regular cath. except a little longer depending on how much and difficult the mapping is. Also, you will under a general part of the time depending on what they do.

Of course, if you have a specific question-PM me.

Good luck

Last week my heart rate was over 135 at rest. My cardiologist said it was atrial flutter. He gave me digoxin and it seems to have regulated my heartbeat and slowed it down. I have an appointment next week to talk to an electrophysiology cardiologist. When I talked to him on the phone last Friday, two options that he mentioned were meds and ablation. He seems to think that an ablation would get rid of the flutter permanently.
I am scared of the meds. I read all about ablations and that does not sound too reassuring either.
I was wondering if anyone of you had an ablation for Atrial flutter. If yes,what was it like? Did it work?
When I had my OHS January 18, 2006, the surgeon did a Maze also.

 

[Wise]

I had ablation for atrial flutter. I was one of the successes. Had no problems with the procedure. While I do understand that ablations aren't always successful over the long run, it has been two years this spring for me. A-flutter is the pits huh?

 

[tantekay]

don't know if this applies or not, but.....

don't know if this applies or not, but.....

I have pac's and prone to a-fibs. My cardoi has studied my condition and says that meds seem to control it fairly well (I take Toprol XL daily) and still have bouts of a-fib and racing heart rate from time to time. He told me that he could do an ablation and stop all this, but since I only have a-fibs bad enough that put me in the hospital overnight about once a year, he doesn't think I'm symtomatic enought to do the ablation. If things got worse then we'd go ahead and have it done. I still have a-fibs from time to time but with the meds and me laying down and taking slow deep breaths, it will usually stop in about 1/2 an hour.

Best of luck in whatever you choose, and I hope that things go well.

 

[Tiffin]

A-Flutter/A-Fib are very scary when your heart is in one of those modes. My Cardio and Pacemaker doctors both wish me to do the AV Node Ablation and I have refused. Last week I was put on Digoxin to slow the heart rate down.

Ablation is a personal choice. But make sure the doctors explain WHAT TYPE of Ablation you are having.

AVnode Ablation cuts all electrical circuit between top of heart and bottom. And can remain in A-fib/flutter but do not feel it or if it is successful no a-fib/flutter AND I was told maybe a 70% chance it works. BUT you will need a Pacemaker for pacing your heart 100%.

A Catheter Conversion is where they go in thru a catheter and shock the heart to stop A-Fib/A-flutter I have seen/read where people have had 2 or 3 of these trying to stop A-bib/flutter it is not always successful or long lasting.

Everyone is different I'm one who is waiting for medical science to improve the odds or have a better item available to me to choose from. So right now meds is my only choice.

What ever you decide Do Not Let the Doctors talk you into something you fully do not understand. And Ablation is one of those gray areas. Do lots of research on it!

 

[Kathleen]

Ablations

Ablations

Praline
I have had multiple ablations for a rare condition, some with rather dire consequences. You are not that far out from your surgery so do research as much as you can before making a decision and perhaps give your heart a chance to recover. I would really try the meds they have now since the side effects are much better.
Kathy

 

[Computec]

Maze Procedure

Maze Procedure

Hi Praline...

Your signature shows that you had the Maze done during your surgery. As explained to me by my surgeon the results aren't known for about 6 months. In the interim period we valvers are on Amiodarone of some other med to control the heart rate. Are you thinking that the Maze you had was not ablation? It was. It is used to cut electrical conductivity using heat, cold or incisions.

What makes you think your procedure didn't work? Was it RF Ablation or some other version? Mine was performed with the Atricure bipolar device and my surgeon is quite confident that it will work in the long run. You can check the Atricure website for some information on how it's done.

Jerry

 

[Praline]

Computec,

Computec,

First of all I envy your name. I assume it implies that you are very knowledgeable when it comes to computer technology. I only wish..

Yes I had a Maze procedure for AFib and I realize that it can take up to 6 months to work. But I was told that atrial flutter was different. I understood that an ablation for flutter was different than one for AFib. But I may have misunderstood. I talked to the elctrophysiology cardiologist on the phone. I have an appointment with him next week. I will get more answers and clarifications then.

 

[Computec]

A-Fib and A-Flutter

A-Fib and A-Flutter

The nickname comes from a business I owned for 10 years. It was a computer service organization taking care of the resorts here in Hawaii. That technology changes so fast that it wore me out so I made a career move back to my old telecommunications field.

I could be wrong but I think that A-Fib and A-Flutter are both manifestations of the same thing... that being electrical pulses misrouted and creating an echo of the signal that makes normal sinus rhythm. Let us know what the doc has to say.

Thanks to people such as yourself I'm learning more than I ever imagined about the whole cardiovascular system. I've received from my surgeon a copy of the "Operative Report" that was dictated during my surgery. That report in conjuction with some websites I've found have given me a real good idea of what a miracle we valvers have benefited from.

Jerry

 

[Wise]

First of all I envy your name. I assume it implies that you are very knowledgeable when it comes to computer technology. I only wish..

Yes I had a Maze procedure for AFib and I realize that it can take up to 6 months to work. But I was told that atrial flutter was different. I understood that an ablation for flutter was different than one for AFib. But I may have misunderstood. I talked to the elctrophysiology cardiologist on the phone. I have an appointment with him next week. I will get more answers and clarifications then.

A-Flutter is easier to ablate. In my case I had a single electrical path to ablate and when they got the catheter to my heart I was in A-Flutter and they were able to easily "zap" it. Anyway, that's how it was for me. A-Fib, in my very very layman understanding, involves possible many electrical paths, thus making it more difficult for success. Someone else probably knows more than me. I'm only speaking from MY experience and what I've read.