Alphabet soup! Please explain the abbreviations

Hi all,

I can only think of a couple right now, but when it comes to having an ablation I’ve seen people use the abbreviations LAA and PVI ( I am sure there are many more ).

Is it possible to get an explanation of some/all the abbreviations in relationship to having an ablation.

Thank you so much in advance!

Steve

Left Atrial Appendage.
Pulmonaire Veins Isolation.

What Pompon said.

The "basic" approach to an ablation is a PVI <[www.mayoclinic.org]. A good ablationist, after the PVI, will try to chemically stimulate afib (assuming afib stopped after the PVI). If this results in afib, he/she will then look for and ablate other areas that may be triggering the afib. This may be repeated a number of times. This may require ablating around the LAA (electrically isolating) <[my.clevelandclinic.org] . This is usually the last work to be done as work here could slow the emptying velocity (along with other things) in the LAA, which would then require lifetime anticoagulation or emplacement of a device like the Watchman to reduce the stroke risk.

The following was from Shannon to a friend of mine in an email about the LAA and getting off anticoagulation after my friend's Natale ablation. It took two years but my friend moved from a marginally bad status to good enough to get off the meds. This happened through normal healing, in his case.

Quote
Shannon
Always good to hear and it’s true some LAA Isolation patients who are borderline during their initial 6 month post LAA-Isolation TEE scan, but miss the passing grade that is now 45cm/sec or greater, will go on to pass a future exam that shows all 3 metrics are passed:

1. LAA Emptying Velocity of: >/=45cm/sec
2. A consistently robust Doppler A-Wave into the Mitral Valve Inflow area measurement.
3. Complete absence of any ‘Smoke’ or SEC (Spontaneous Echo Contrast) in both the LA and within the LAA.

These three metrics much all earn a passing grade to earn the right to stop OAC for folks with LAA isolation ... and ONLY if the person’s systemic stroke risk score (CHADS-VASc score) is </=2.0.

If stroke risk score is greater than 2.0 most EPs will insist on either continued Eliquis and/or to go for LAA Closure and sometimes even then an OAC drug (possibly at half dose) might still be required for those with higher systemic (non-LAA/AFIB related) stroke risks.

About 58% of LAA isolation patient do not pass the initial post 6 month LAA-iso TEE test and thus need to stay with either OAC or LAA Closure. But that leaves ~42% of LAA-ISO patients who stand a great chance of stopping all blood thinners plus have all atrial arrhythmia out of your life long-term. The ultimate ‘win-win’!

That is WAY better odds of getting off a blood thinner than just avoiding LAA Isolation for those with LAA triggering their AFIB/AFlutter/ATachy. And which only insures 100% need for life long blood thinner for this class of patients who will also morph into Persistent/LSPAF, if they have not already!!

ISO - isolation as in LAA-ISO <[www.onlinejacc.org]
OAC - oral anti-coagulation
CHADS-VASc - <[en.wikipedia.org]
LSPAF - long standing persistent afib



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2018 01:53PM by GeorgeN.

Yes, we need a NASA-style acronym database. Preferably as a sticky thread, up top above all the others.

Quote
wolfpack
Yes, we need a NASA-style acronym database. Preferably as a sticky thread, up top above all the others.

Yep, for sure. That and a bunch of other stuff. The forum software is dated and needs updating for starters. I think Shannon knows that but he has a full plate for now.

The Yahoo AFIB group has the following abbreviations, but it is an older subset:

AAD - Antiarrhythmic drugs
AED - Automated external defibrillator
AF - Atrial Fibrillation
A-FIB, AFIB, Afib - Atrial Fibrillation
AICD - Automated internal cardioverter defibrillator
AIUI - As I Understand It
BID - Twice a day
CABG - Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting - bypass surgery
CAD - Coronary Artery Disease
CHD - Coronary Heart Disease
CFIDS - Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome
CHF - Congestive Heart Failure
CM - CardioMyopathy
COPD - Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
CVA - Cardiovascular Accident (stroke)
DCM - Dilated CardioMyopathy
ECG, EKG - Electrocardiogram
EF - Ejection Fraction
EP - Electrophysiologist
EPI - Epinephrine
ER - Emergency Room
HCM - Hypertrophic CardioMyopathy
IBS - Irritable Bowel Syndrome
ICD - Implantable or Internal Cardioverter Defibrillator
ICM - Idiopathic CardioMyopathy
IDCM - Idiopathic Dilated CardioMyopathy
IMHO - In My Honest Opinion
INR - International Normalized Ratio
GERD - Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease
LBBB - Left Bundle Branch Block
MI - Myocardial Infarction, also known as heart attack
MS - Multiple Sclerosis
MVP - Mitral Valve Prolapse
NHS - National Health Service
NSR - Normal Sinus Rhythm
PAC - Premature Atrial Contraction
PAF - Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation
PPCM - PeriPartum CardioMyopathy
PH - Pulmonary Hypertension
PM - Pacemaker
PVA - Pulmonary Vein Ablation
PVC - Premature Ventrical Contraction
PVD - Peripheral Vascular Disease
PVI - Pulmonary Vein Isolation
RCM - Restrivtive Cardiomyopathy
RFA - Radio Frequency Ablation
RLS - Restless Legs Syndrome
SCD - Sudden cardic Death
SSS - Sick Sinus Syndrom
SVT - SupraVentricular Tachycardia
TEE - Transesophageal Echocardiography
TOE - Trans-oesophageal Echocardiography
TIA - Transient Ischemic Attack
TMJ - TemproMandibular Joint
V-tach- Ventricular Tachycardia