As many of you know I had my PACs ablation with him in August and after 5 months of no PACs, they are now back 24/7 non-stop. Met+Flec providing some relief, but no doubts I am heading back to Austin sooner rather than later.
My question is...is it smart to go back to him specifically? I ask cause I see on their teams bios other Drs that specifically mention other arrhythmias, while his bio ONLY mentions Afib. So I am wondering if I would be better off with one of his colleagues, who perhaps deals more with PACs, rather than Afib?


Thanks

I'm a big believer in "shopping around" where feasible, especially when things are not straight forward. Just shop at the best stores, i.e. top ten cardiac centers with an ep who has a high-output of afib procedures. Different ep's approach things differently and talking to a few can sometimes be more helpful than just talking to one. Personally, I spoke to five ep's before deciding on my Cryo Ablation. All the ep's were excellent, but their approaches differed in various ways and shopping around helped me find the best match for me.

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2024 12:48PM by mjamesone.

Don't rely on bios. He does all types of ablations -- atrial, ventricular, PVCs, SVT, pretty much everything.

Quote
Carey
Don't rely on bios. He does all types of ablations -- atrial, ventricular, PVCs, SVT, pretty much everything.

Thanks...so he's still my best bet I guess. Noted. Thanks.

Maybe since you have seen him before that would be the best bet. I didn't have a good experience, but it may be harder at a telehealth appointment. He didn't seem to think that my PACs were a problem worth fixing,.but again, there was definitely a barrier with just being on the phone and not having the history of him knowing me and my heart. I think since you have seen him before, that would make sense!

I've been thinking more about this post, and realizing, that really, we all just have to have an EP that,we trust and that listens, as well as someone who is an expert in the field. It may be Natale, it may be someone else, but it has to be someone that listens, that knows their stuff, that we trust, and that gives us the best care within the confines of our situation.

My EP in another part of the country also participates in studies with him. We were discussing a possible ablation for me based on Kardia and Apple ekg reports I provided I also had reports of PACs in bigeminy, and he said the ablation probably wouldn’t fix them. I thought ablations did work for PACs. In any case I haven’t had either in over 6 months, so I’m not concerned at this time.

Not so fast - that is his opinion. There are several EP's out there in high volume centers that will treat PAC/PVC - but just as with AFIB ablation there is no guarantee that this will permanently cure or fix the issue. The science is getting better as well as the tools.

Natale did my afibb ablation when I came to him for PVC/PAC he had Dr. Burkhardt do my PVC ablation, as the upper chamber is his specialty. Hope this helps