Fibrosis detected during Ablations

For all my fellow affibers were you told the amount of Fibrosis that has build up and how successful your procedure will be?
Are ME-MRI imaging done prior to your ablations? Or can EP's tell once in there with the caths how much is present?

McHale

McHale, I had no MRI or CT Scan prior to my ablation, but Dr Holshouser did sat I had some LVH, he last week at my appt called it very slight but I had some and it was detected during the ablation........this is why he wants my BP lower saying it can reverse itself.....so I am on high Mag each day (1000 to 1200) and lisinopril..........

as of right now (8 weeks tomorrow) I could not feel any better................no more testing with wine either, per Shannon I let go of it

Tom

Hey Mc,

I have never heard of a pre-ablation MRI for fibrosis. Maybe some EP's do it but that I have not heard that. In my case, Dr. Sirak was looking at my LA as the burned the lines (he made multiple passes because fibrosis makes electrical isolation more difficult.) In my case he noted it in the post surgical report and we talked about it afterwards. I did not ask him why there was no MRI before the procedure but I expect I know the answer- he will ablate until he achieves electrical isolation. That is one reason for his high success rate.

EB

Same with me EB,

The ablation report is where you will normally find mention of the degree of scarring/fibrosis discovered during the procedure Dr. Natale told me that in years past most EPs were not that rigorous in detailing the degree of fibrosis or scar found and would mostly mention if there was an unusual amount or just not make an issue out of it. That has changed in recent years as more understanding of the role of scar/fibrosis in sustaining AFIB as evolved and most Docs will document it more fully in their ablations reports.

Shannon

Shannon - I'd suspect that amounts of fibrosis (or collagen accumulations) that are significant enough to actually show or be detected on the radar during ablations would be fairly abundant, whereas what would not be detectable would be the microscopic fibrosis that occurs before the overgrowth becomes a physical presence in heart chambers. Small, microscopic undetectable amounts of fibrosis could still offer interference in electrical activity.

As discussed in the Fibrosis conference room topics, magnesium deficiency allows for fibrosis formation which speaks again to the importance to optimizing magnesium intake to maintain IC stores. As I recall, myocardial fibrosis may eventually contribute to arrhythmia, but it is not always initially directly causal but may with time become arrhythmogenic as well.

By the time it’s detected during ablation, I’d think it is very advanced which would understandably make sense to note it as an obvious interference.

Jackie