My husband is going on ablation #3. He has a consult on November 13 with Dr. Natale at Marin General Hospital in California. It does seem very rare for a person to have more than 2 ablations. Do you think some of you are just incurable???? You made a comment that your condition worsened on one post was that before or after the 4th ablation? I've been off here a while, I apologize if you've already shared this info!!

Thanks!!
Sheryl

Sheryl,

I'm not sure myself why I needed so many ablations. I have heard of one other person who had four. Let me try to explain what I do know.

The first was a radiofrequency flutter ablation, but it was not done at the Cleveland Clinic. I believe this doctor who did it had already done at least 200. At the time, our insurance did not cover the Clinic and we could not afford it. So, I opted for the ablation which was suppossed to have about a 90% chance of success. I was told that some people do get atrial fibrillation afterwards, but that it's easier to control with medication than flutter.

About 2 weeks after the ablation, my doc said something like he missed a spot and that I needed a touchup (I was symptomatic.) I agreed and went back for the second radiofrequency flutter ablation about 6 weeks later. After being admitted and getting into my gown, my doc came into the room with his new supervisor and said she would be doing the ablation--he would assist. I was very upset and balked about it, but my choice was to either accept it or reschedule. I just wanted to get it over with so stayed. That ablation took 8 hours. I was out of it the whole time. I think during all ablations, they try to induce arrythmias via chemical stimulation or something and then ablate them. So, they ablated 2 new arrythmias which showed up during the lab. But when I woke up I still had my "real life flutter" that I came in with and a tachycardia.

I neglected to say in other post that the tachycardia did go away when another famous doc, a pioneer from Clinic who was working here in this community hospital, told me that he wanted to cardiovert me. That really scared me--I had never heard of it before. I refused.

So the second flutter ablation failed.

Then my regular EP doc said I should wait awhile before trying another ablation because of possible risk from florouscopy and he was working on getting a new mapping system. He did get new system & called me after he'd had some success with it.

So I went for my 3rd ablation about 1 1/2 years later. I was told it was successful-- the flutter had finally stopped and I was in NSR. That was about noon. About 3:30 the next day I had gone into atrial fibrillation.

I had my 4th ablation (but my first pulmonary vein ablation) on August 4, 2003. I'm know I'm much better than I was before I had it. I was in constant atrial fibrillation even with heavy meds and 4 shocks in a row(during the cardioversion I went into NSR but only momentarily). Now, I know that I have been in sinus when I had a couple of 12 lead EKG'S. But have PAC'S, PVC's, and pulse elevated --running about 95 - 110. Guess I'll know more after I communicate with doc. Hope I won't be told that flutter is causing my heart rate to be elevated as one gal at pacer lab wondered when I transmitted. Was just now told when I called appt. line that they had changed my appointment again. This time for the better - Nov. 7th. Had been Dec. 3rd and I wrote a letter of concern about that postponement.

To summarize, I guess I just have questions myself about what happened.

1. Do some people just get multiple arrythmias and they get "peeled away" by each successive ablation?
2. If I had gone to a different doctor (esp. the Clinic) from the beginning would I have only needed one ablation?
3. If the original doctor had had an updated mapping system the first time he ablated me, would he have cured me the first time? (A doctor who I went to for a second opinion - at University Hospital- told me that my doctor was as good as any, but he really needed a better system in order to succeed at ablating my flutter.
4. If my doctor's supervisor didn't insist that she do second ablation and I didn't agree, would I have only needed 2 ablations?
5. If I had been aware that there was any urgency to get treated and I had sought treatment sooner would it have made a difference? ( I had originally gone to a doctor outside my own county and did not get the sense that it would hurt to just wait and see as I told him I wanted to do. I did tell him at my first appointment that I would rather die than have a catheter stuck up my groin and fed up into my heart where it would zap my heart --look how far I've come.)
6. My doctor wanted to admit me for 3 days shortly after the 3rd ablation and start me on Tikosyn. It was Christmas time and my dad had just passed, so I postponed it until spring. If it's true that afib begets afib, then maybe if I had done what he asked, we could have nipped it in the bud.

If you haven't fallen asleep yet, I guess I've come to the conclusion that everyone's body is different and there are a lot of variables that affect the outcome. And I guess God only knows. Hopefully, this will be the last ablation for all of us.

My prayers are with you.

njb