Ablations in the UK - Zena's post and others

November 25, 2005

Hello Zena and everybody,

I saw my GP yesterday (in central England) and he suggested I try to

get an ablation somewhere in England by paying for it privately. Before

deciding whether I can find the money to do this, I need more knowledge

of the success rate versus complication rate for ablations here in the

UK.

Like Zena, I'd be very grateful to hear from anybody who has knowledge

or experience of ablations in England and other UK countries or even in

France or Italy etc.

Whether to go for an ablation or not is such a difficult decision for

us all, no matter where we live, and I do get the sense that the UK is

lagging behind many other countries in treating AFIB by this method. It

seems that there just aren't the funds available here to do the

research and so our electrophysiologists/cardiologists cannot develop

the necessary expertise to carry out these procedures successfully.

Information from anybody who knows of UK centres where ablations have

been consistently successfully performed would be very welcome. (Did

somebody mention Leeds or Newcastle in posts a few weeks ago)? If so

would you mind getting in touch again?

Thanks

Liz

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November 25, 2005

Liz

> I saw my GP yesterday (in central England) and he suggested I try to

> get an ablation somewhere in England by paying for it privately. Before

> deciding whether I can find the money to do this, I need more knowledge

> of the success rate versus complication rate for ablations here in the

> UK.

I went through this hoop before my ablation. Private in the UK can be

Very Expensive, and will not be any better than NHS - the only thing it

does is circumvent the waiting list / urgency rigmarole. As you point

out, before you pay from your own money, you want to know you are going

to have a good chance of it fixing you, never mind complications. And

one unsuccessful series of ablations I know of in a London hospital was

very expensive indeed for the person concerned's insurers. So you want

to be only looking at the top EPs. Otherwise you'll be broke and still

have AF.

> Like Zena, I'd be very grateful to hear from anybody who has knowledge

> or experience of ablations in England and other UK countries or even in

> France or Italy etc.

> Whether to go for an ablation or not is such a difficult decision for

> us all, no matter where we live, and I do get the sense that the UK is

> lagging behind many other countries in treating AFIB by this method.

This is true in 2 ways - (i) there's not the money / importance given to

get the experience in the first place and (ii) the experience of

ablations is nowhere near that of the French team, for example, from

what I can tell, one or two places excepted (well, no one has the

numbers experience they do, but e.g. St 's and Newcastle are getting

much more experienced, I think)

> It

> seems that there just aren't the funds available here to do the

> research and so our electrophysiologists/cardiologists cannot develop

> the necessary expertise to carry out these procedures successfully.

> Information from anybody who knows of UK centres where ablations have

> been consistently successfully performed would be very welcome. (Did

> somebody mention Leeds or Newcastle in posts a few weeks ago)? If so

> would you mind getting in touch again?

Check my earlier post in this thread, and the group database

A key part of the decision to have an ablation is - how bad is your AF?

It has to be bad enough for the EP to find what's going on but not so

bad they can't fix it. Ablation success falls as AF turns permanent.

The problem with the NHS is once you get to that point (a) will they

recognise it and ( then what's the wait to get your ablation, and will

you be permanent by the time you get there?!

Everyone here who has been to France swears by them, if you check back

on the messages. Worth thinking about.

Vicky

November 26, 2005

An Ablation in Bordeaux will cost you around 14,000 Euros. That's

roughly 10,000 quid.

St mary's Paddington are ahead of the rest on NHS.

Papworth Hospital seems to have had success but I don't know what

the figures are.

Cook University Hospital Middlesborough has had success.Think

it may be private though and will be more expensive than France.

Hope this helps.

Sue

>

> Liz

>

> > I saw my GP yesterday (in central England) and he suggested I

try to

> > get an ablation somewhere in England by paying for it privately.

Before

> > deciding whether I can find the money to do this, I need more

knowledge

> > of the success rate versus complication rate for ablations here

in the

> > UK.

>

> I went through this hoop before my ablation. Private in the UK

can be

> Very Expensive, and will not be any better than NHS - the only

thing it

> does is circumvent the waiting list / urgency rigmarole. As you

point

> out, before you pay from your own money, you want to know you are

going

> to have a good chance of it fixing you, never mind complications.

And

> one unsuccessful series of ablations I know of in a London

hospital was

> very expensive indeed for the person concerned's insurers. So you

want

> to be only looking at the top EPs. Otherwise you'll be broke and

still

> have AF.

>

> > Like Zena, I'd be very grateful to hear from anybody who has

knowledge

> > or experience of ablations in England and other UK countries or

even in

> > France or Italy etc.

> > Whether to go for an ablation or not is such a difficult

decision for

> > us all, no matter where we live, and I do get the sense that the

UK is

> > lagging behind many other countries in treating AFIB by this

method.

>

> This is true in 2 ways - (i) there's not the money / importance

given to

> get the experience in the first place and (ii) the experience of

> ablations is nowhere near that of the French team, for example,

from

> what I can tell, one or two places excepted (well, no one has the

> numbers experience they do, but e.g. St 's and Newcastle are

getting

> much more experienced, I think)

>

> > It

> > seems that there just aren't the funds available here to do the

> > research and so our electrophysiologists/cardiologists cannot

develop

> > the necessary expertise to carry out these procedures

successfully.

> > Information from anybody who knows of UK centres where ablations

have

> > been consistently successfully performed would be very welcome.

(Did

> > somebody mention Leeds or Newcastle in posts a few weeks ago)?

If so

> > would you mind getting in touch again?

>

> Check my earlier post in this thread, and the group database

>

> A key part of the decision to have an ablation is - how bad is

your AF?

> It has to be bad enough for the EP to find what's going on but

not so

> bad they can't fix it. Ablation success falls as AF turns

permanent.

> The problem with the NHS is once you get to that point (a) will

they

> recognise it and ( then what's the wait to get your ablation,

and will

> you be permanent by the time you get there?!

>

> Everyone here who has been to France swears by them, if you check

back

> on the messages. Worth thinking about.

>

> Vicky

>

November 26, 2005

I had a PVA in october 2002 at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle.

The procedure was done by Dr Furniss and Dr Bourke. At that time Dr

Furniss said they had done about 100 procedures. I paid £6,000 for

it to be done privately as I did not live in Newcastle and the

procedure at that time could not be funded by my local PCT. I'd had

paroxymal AF for 12 years. The ablation didn't really work although

I did have less AF for a while. I went back to see Dr Furniss when

my AF got progressively worse, he told me that the procedure had

improved a great deal since my earlier ablation, and he could now

get funding and put me on his NHS waiting list for a second attempt.

Last christmas eve morning I went into AF and stayed in AF all the

time. In July this year I went back to Newcastle and had the

ablation. For the first 6 weeks nothing happened just AF as before.

Then I started getting Atrial flutter which was worse than AF and

despite the meds I had long periods of fast heart rate.Then seven

weeks ago the flutter stopped and NSR appeared and I have been in

sinus rythm since then. I had a 3 month follow up appointment in

Newcastle last week and Dr Furniss said its to early to be sure but

it was a very good sign.

As far as I am aware Dr Furniss is by far the most expirienced EP

doing PV isolations in the UK having done over 300 procedures.

November 26, 2005

Hi,

I have just received a letter from Mike Griffiths in Birmingham informing me

that he is having success with ablations. He studied in France.

C Uk