Ablation

[Guest guest]

,

Welcome. I guess you could say your home. We are 1500 + AFibbers, from around

the world. All with many experiences and stories. We are not a medical board

in that we offer no professional diagnosis or claim to. But we've got a

million stories and experiences with AFib drugs, medical institutions and other

AFib

information. We are the official patient support group for the Atrial

Fibrillation Foundation. www affacts.org.

Although we are independent of them.

I would suggest you first visit the AFib Foundations web site and educate

yourself on ablations. www.affacts.org, click on Dr. Keane's article and then

PVI

procedure. Also tour the entire web site for additional information.

Educating yourself is the best thing you can do.

I amd many others on this board have had PVA's. Pulmonary Vein Ablations.

Many successful, some, some what successful and others, it didn't work. Yet.

I would read up first and post additional questions after you had a chance to

think about your homework!

Your not alone. There are no stupid questions.

Consider:

1. Have you seen and EP or just a cardiologist?

2. Is your heart in good shape less the AF?

3. Have you had a heart work up. i.e Cardiac MRI, echocardiogram, stress

test, blood work, or maybe a TEE?

4. Triggers. Have any?

This is not a test, but simply a way to measure where you are at in the

scheme of things.

You don't have to reply or answer, but if you need some answers, many of us

need to know where your at to help out.

Stanford has an excellent cardiology department. Are they also a top AF

ablation center? Ask them. Who's the top EP performing AF ablations? What's

his/her's success rate? What is their rate (%) of stenosis?

www.affacts.org start there first.

Rich O

[Guest guest]

I'm just coming off an ablation. I had it done on February 16, a Wednesday. I

was back at work (as a librarian -- no heavy lifting) the following Tuesday. I

could have been back on the Monday, but I'd had a bout of fib on the Friday and

decided that an extra day could do no harm. By all indications, it worked like

a charm. The Friday Fib appeared to be one of the 'remodelling' things that the

heart goes through in the six months following an ablation. I've been in NSR

since and feel better than I have in at least five years. I've shovelled snow,

run with the dog, gone up and down stairs -- all without being out of breath.

If it sounds like I'm gushing, so be it. No adverse side effects that I've

noticed. There was some mild itching as my groin entry site healed but even

that kind of thing isn't noticible. I'd certainly continue doing research on

the ablation. There are lots of sites out there and lots of stories on this

board. Driscoll posted an excellent summary

of what happens in an ablation from a patient's point of view a little less

than a month ago. You can find it using the search utilities on the board. I

certainly wouldn't hesitate to talk to the folks at Stanford to see what they

think.