Discussion on New AF Ablation Technology and Current Problems

You might find this interesting:

[www.youtube.com]

And here is another interesting video—it is a detailed tour of an EP lab showing how all the amazing equipment works. It is 4 years old so there may be newer equipment but for those interested in ablation, it gives very interesting visuals and commentary on how it all works.

[youtu.be].

Thanks, Daisy. I watched the bulk of it (questions from potential and former patients posed to the EP with convenient captions if you hold the mouse over the demarcated sections in the time-line depicted below the screen). It's a useful presentation.

Had I been encouraged to comment, I would have responded to one of the very last questions, about pain post-procedure, that there can be some esophageal pain due to the TEE. At least, in my case, I couldn't swallow at all for about 20 minutes after I came to. My throat wasn't damaged, but the tissue had dried out to the extent that I had a liner of cardboard in there.

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gloaming
pain post procedure

I had moderate chest pain when I woke up but I had been taking colchicine for a week and the pain disappeared in a few hours.

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gloaming
Had I been encouraged to comment, I would have responded to one of the very last questions, about pain post-procedure, that there can be some esophageal pain due to the TEE. At least, in my case, I couldn't swallow at all for about 20 minutes after I came to. My throat wasn't damaged, but the tissue had dried out to the extent that I had a liner of cardboard in there.

Was that just a TEE or a TEE and ablation? If it was a combined procedure, the discomfort was probably due to a drug the anesthesiologist gave you that limits your saliva production. I experienced that after an ablation back around 2015. I woke up with a mouth/throat dry as a bone that no amount of water would quench. I couldn't even eat a sandwich my mouth was so dry. Weird experience.

When I asked about it I was told it's a drug commonly given during procedures that dries up your mucus/saliva production. They're supposed to stop it in time so you don't experience that after you're awake, but they don't always get the timing right.

Ah, that may have been it, Carey. I had thought it was just dryness due to air being introduced, maybe to inflate me a tad..dunno. All I know is it felt bloody awful, and I am not looking forward to a repeat....which it seems in my case I must. Thanks for that bit of info.

I've had numerous TEEs and ablations, and I've only experienced it once so I don't think you're doomed to experience it again. I would tell the anesthesiologist about it beforehand and how much you didn't like it. That will put it in their consciousness so maybe they'll be more attentive to stopping it in time.