"well over a thousand" from this forum have seen Natale?

Shannon was published this year "Things I Learned and is my Pleasure to Share about Dr. Andrea Natale M.D." saying this, about Dr. Natale:

"Most importantly, though, he has also earned the trust, admiration and gratitude from many thousands of patients he has successfully treated. Including well over a thousand now who have sought him out from our own forum over the last two decades for their own freedom from AFIB!"

Anyone visiting this site is likely to hear about Natale from their first day. I certainly did. But I had no idea it could be possible that "thousands" of people who might be considered afibber.org types had been treated by Dr. Natale.

When I first heard about Natale I wanted to find out more about him. If there are thousands coming here then going to him, why not put a sticky post up that contains links so a newbie can come up to speed as they try to make up their mind why people are so enthusiastic about Natale?

There is this 2019 EP Lab Digest Spotlight Interview with Dr. Natale where he describes the Texas Clinic.

There is this post from afibbers.org "Dr. Natale". A skeptical poster, Ralph, started out the post "wondering about the Dr. Natale mantra". By the end, he thanked "everyone for your input - that includes a long phone call with Shannon". Ralph then pronounced "If or when I have an ablation it will be with Dr. Natale."

I appreciated running into this: "How Can I Increase My Odds of Having a Successful Afib Ablation?" The author, Van Slooten, says he relied heavily on conversations with Shannon, and this blogpost Shannon put up in 2016, "Considering an Ablation to Treat Your Afib? This is a Must Read!"

And this: Congrats to Shannon and Dr Natale!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2021 07:06PM by David_L.

David,

Great collection of links! Thanks for putting this together. It is a great resource.

I'm not ablated, nor have I ever met Dr. Natale. However, I've recommended him to numerous friends and acquaintances in my "real" life (as well as my digital life). They have all thanked me profusely.

Shannon is a very special person. His dedication to supporting afibbers is wonderful. I've known him virtually for over 17 years and we subsequently started communicating via phone when he was living in Holland around 2007. Since then, we've met in person a number of times as well as continued our phone calls. We are blessed to have his support!

I only know Carey digitally, however, we are also blessed to have his wonderful insight supporting us on the the forum. I very much appreciate him!!

George

George-I so agree!

First off, thank you for the research, the collection of links, and the praise.

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David_L
When I first heard about Natale I wanted to find out more about him. If there are thousands coming here then going to him, why not put a sticky post up that contains links so a newbie can come up to speed as they try to make up their mind why people are so enthusiastic about Natale?

As useful as that might actually be, doing that would give the impression that we're a marketing front for him and cause people to question whether we're being compensated. (We of course are not. Our only income is from donations.) It would also be unfair to other EPs with comparable skills. We know they're out there because Natale spends a huge amount of his personal time and money training other EPs around the world. We can name some of them, but we have no doubt we're unaware of many others.

In fact, one of the ideas we'd really like to pursue is building a directory of exceptionally skilled EPs. The problem is, how do we create such a list fairly and objectively? We don't want to become a "rate your doctor" site, so patient ratings are out. Doctors won't nominate themselves, and few of them can provide the stats that would allow us to make a decision anyway. It may never happen so for now we're just going with "Post your question and we'll do our best to answer."

Carey if Natale stopped/retired today who would be your short list of go to EP's?

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Kleinkp
Carey if Natale stopped/retired today who would be your short list of go to EP's?

Oh, man.... You're asking for the list I just explained why we can't provide. Making a list like that is HARD!

If someone here needs a recommendation, we can help with that, but we have to know their particulars first and then we can all group-think the best recommendation, but I don't think we're ready to make lists of go-to EPs.

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Carey
We know they're out there because Natale spends a huge amount of his personal time and money training other EPs around the world.

To Carey's point, I have a cousin that lives in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. Around 2008 or 9, he was having flutter & afib. His local EP wanted to ablate his flutter and see if that fixed his afib. I knew in my cousin's case, the success probability of doing that was around 5%. I also knew my chances of getting him to travel far to get treated was low. A Natale protégé, Sergio Pinski, was at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, FL - just down the road. I convinced my cousin to get a second opinion from Pinski, who suggested ablating both the afib & flutter in one procedure. That is what happened. A little later, my cousin's wife also got afib and was ablated by Pinski. Both ablations have been durable to this date. My cousin and his wife have nothing but high praise for Pinski.

I too have recommended Pinski to a few friends in Fla. im a newly Natale ablation for atypical Flutter. My ep here in Charlotte actually told me to go to him following his failed attempt on 3/29. Natale s was 8/6 in Austin. Perfect nsr since but! My LAA isolated and that presents a new fork in the road. Either anticoagulant or the Watchman. Im waiting for my Watchman date with Dr Natale as this is his recommendation for me per 11/22 teleconference. Then my plan is to switch back to dr Holshouser here who i love. But yes Natale is Mickey Mantle and many ep s are Phil Linz. Yes i learned of dr natale on this site. Thank God!

In 2016, after a third party put me in touch with Shannon, he explained to me a number of Dr. Natale's accomplishments related in his March The Science Times article and ended our first conversation with the question, "Based on what I've told you, how can you justify NOT having Dr. Natale work on your heart?" That question was posed after I had seen a local EP who gave me an absolute best estimate of 60% successful ablation. Since I'd had afib/flutter longer than the local EP had been a doctor, there was absolutely no other option. Less than a month later my main drive pump was in the hands of The Maestro. Yes, I'm waiting to have a third ablation and a Watchman but after almost four years of arrhythmia-free life, some more work by the good doctor is necessary'; but considering the mess of a pump he started with I think I've done mighty well under his care.

Jay- nearly four years is a celebration. You are very lucky.

George - Thanks for that Dr. Pinski reminder. I was corresponding with two afibbers in Florida back then and suggested they consult with him. They did and also proceeded with ablations.

They were both extremely satisfied with the result.

Jackie

I am brand new to this forum. I have suffered with persistent A-fib for around 11 years and am 74 yrs old. Also have CHF. For many years could not feel when I was in Afib; however, the last 2 years I do know and also have other side effects (maybe from medicine or CHF). None of my doctors mentioned ablation until this year when my echo showed 21% EF. I started reading alot on this forum to try to understand and make decisions as to which path to take. When I read on this thread you might could assist in making recommendations for an EP in my area for persistent AFib I decided to ask if you could give some direction. Traveling to Austin (probably more than once) would be very difficult in my situtation. I live outside the Atlanta, Ga. and would so love to know if there is an EP in this area you could suggest. Thank you so much for any information you can send my way! CarolM