What Happens to Us After Dr. Natale Retires?

Let me preface this by saying I'm a worry wort. I worry about everything

For whatever reason, I found myself tossing and turning last night thinking about my future - specifically, will Dr. Natale's still be doing ablations 10 years from now?

Like many afibbers on this forum, I had a successful ablation by the maestro in March 2015. Let's assume I get 10 years from that first ablation before the beast rears its ugly head again. It will be 2025.

I believe Dr. Natale is in his early to mid 50's. I don't know how long he plans on practicing but I'm guessing he'll be hanging it up, at least as far as doing the actual ablations are concerned, in his mid 60's at the latest, right? That's about 10 years from now!

Once he retires, who takes his place? Is there another maestro like him in the U.S. (or any country for that matter)?

When I think about this, I almost want my afib to return now just to ensure he gets to do the 2nd ablation before he retires!

Travis

Travis,

I've not had an ablation, but Natale would be my go to person at such time I ever need one. I look at it this way - he continues to train other EP's and he continues to advance the state of the art. Ultimately that is the solution - bringing the skill level up of many others.

Others may not be at his level, but there are some very good EP's here and elsewhere in the world.

George

Travis,

You might not need a 2nd ablation. And Dr. Natale, as I understand it, trains a lot of EPs. There will always be somebody available who can do complex left atrial ablations. And what says that if you need a 2nd ablation, that it will be complex left atrial? It could just be reconnect-the-dots on the PVI.

Keep calm and beat on!

Travis,
Big LOL....I've had the same thought many times since my ablation too.....what happens after Natale retires? Do I need to keep up with his schedule to see how much longer he works?
I've resolved it internally much with the same rationale as George & Wolfpack.
The good news is that I'm sure he has trained many professionals. Shannon can already name some of his superstar students that have been practicing on their own for years.
Hopefully by the time we need another procedure many other names will have also emerged as proficient practicioners....additionally, the extra time gives us the benefit of new knowledge and treatments, hopefully with significantly improved outcomes.
Hope you all are well!
Sincerely,
Ken

Well said Ken! But I still hope that if my afib returns it does so in the next year or two - hopefully well before Natale hangs it up.

No worries Travis and Ken,

I got you covered :-)... There are some excellent ablationist out there and some that have been trained by Dr Natale as well, but Dr Natale is still a young 55 years old and has no plans to retire anytime soon. Pioneering the field of AFIB treatment and ablation is a genuine deep passion for Dr Natale. Ive never seen anything quite like it.

He is fully dedicated to advancing the field and isn't afraid to go against the grain when pioneering new frontiers and pushing through any resistance he might encounter to help insure the best outcomes for all degrees of AFIB severity.

I suspect he will be in the saddle for another 15 years or more, though he may well slow the pace a bit by 65 or so ... and yet perhaps not and he keeps on going well into his 70s? Assuming we all are still here too, if we need him again and that he too is still among us ... knock on wood!

But one of his main passions has been to insure he replicates his knowledge, skill and dedication by very carefully seeking out like-minded and like-hearted younger EPs that show real talent with a catheter and are very smart and who took advantage of his offer to be their mentor for years in order to ... like Johnny Appleseed ... insure that the right way to approach every degree of difficulty in AFIB/ VT ablation is mastered by as many worthy proteges as possible. And who, in turn, will no doubt continue spreading the wealth among and an even younger generation of elite quality talent in the years ahead, and who are just leaving college and heading for med school now.

Since AFIB ablation is still not standardized, there is still a wide range of concepts for how best to perform and ablation and many of them lacking when it comes to more advanced AFIB ablation. Dr Natale's approach is number one in my book and from all that I have learned over the years. He has had the vision to advance the most challenging types of AFIB ablation when the majority of EPs settled for just become proficient in boilerplate PVI-only paroxysmal AFIB ablation.

We are all extremely lucky to be alive at a time when Dr Natale is at his peak of skill and power. And we can all rest easy knowing he has a solid group of highly-skilled proteges around the US and Europe now that will carry on the linage well past our own life times as well.

So Travis, you can file this big worry in the circular file once and for all and rest easy this evening and enjoy sweet dreams after all ;-)!!

Be well,
Shannon

Shannon:

Thanks for putting my mind at ease! We truly are blessed to have someone like Dr. Natale available!

Travis