afib after an ablation

5/28/09 had a pulmonary vein ablation for afib. ive been in sinus rhythm up until about an hour ago and my heart rate was 146 and irreg. im sure it was afib with rvr. has this happened to anyone else. i am so disappointed. my rate now is 94 and regular. is this abnormal will my afib come back again.

5 Comments

CAN HAPPEN

by pete - 2009-06-15 02:06:24

If you have a pulmonary vein ablation for AFIB and you have no return of AFIB for 6 months afterwards you will be permanently cured. Unfortunately your situation is only too common. The AFIB returns within 6 months. It might have just been a one off bout of AFIB but this is unlikely. If your AFIB has returned you can go through the pulmonary vein ablation proceedure again and hope for the best. I never got offered this proceedure so I will never know if it would have worked. Too late for me.I have a biventricular cardiac resynchronisation pacemaker and a AV node ablation to keep my heart output acceptable. I still have chronic AFIB. Results are very good. Very few doctors are skilled enough to make a good job of a pulmonary vein ablation. The hospital in Bordeaux France is far and away the best place to go if you can afford it. I have a lot of sympathy for doctors who struggle with any ablation proceedure. There are risks involved for the patient and things can go wrong and pathways and nodes can be removed / erased accidentaly due to the difficulties. In my case an AV node ablation carries far less risk than a long pulmonary vein ablation proceedure. One other concern is that your heart rate seems too high if your quoted rate is 94 at rest. Keep your fingers crossed and good luck. Cheers Peter

ME AGAIN

by pete - 2009-06-15 02:06:52

One other comment. If you go for a biventricular ablation and AV node ablation you will not necessarily be 100% dependant. This is because the heart in the majority of cases develops shortly afterwards or some time afterwards ( 18 months in my case) an R rhythym also known as a residual pacing or rescue rythym. This means that in the extremely unlikely chance of your pacemaker etc failing your heart will beat at around 40 beats a minute to keep you going until the problem is fixed. Even my neighbour has an AV node ablation and we both chuckle as to how well we are doing. I can do really hard heavy work if I want too. Also the biventricular/AV node route is far more predictable and less risky in its results and during the surgery. I see your doctors wanted to go down that route on a previous post of yours. Nerves often cause patients not to take their advice. An AV node ablation takes about 30 minutes. Let us know how you get on . Cheers Peter

Another oar in the water

by janetinak - 2009-06-15 03:06:06

As usual Peter has taught me a lot. As he knows from my previous posting, I had the AV node ablation back in 2000. Back then there weren't too many options. I had to laugh (at least now I can laugh) as I was told by my EP that my atria would still be "fibbing" along ( my trem for it not his). So after the procedure I'm doing great & PM working, stayed over night & RN comes in to do vital signs in AM & says "Your in Afib." Well, no suprise I think. But then the good Dr comes in & says same, so I say well you said I would be & he responds but your Afib is over-riding my PM. So he did it again & now I am not aware of it & feeling good. I understand that most abalations work 1st time but there are some of us who don't coperate.

Hope this helps, Hi Peter!!

Janet

afib after ablation

by Susan - 2009-06-15 11:06:01

Yes, it is very common to have spurts of afib/aflutter after an ablation. The heart takes a couple of months to heal and during this time outbreaks of afib/aflutter sometmes occur. It doesn't necessarily mean your ablation was a failure.
SusanD

Afib surgery six 6 days ago

by IRISHDLS - 2014-06-19 08:06:42

Had PVA surgery six days ago and now back in afib. Any one else have this problem? Does it go away.

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