Worried!!!!!

I am a (somewhat) healthy 52 year old female that runs daily 8-10 miles. For more than a decade I was followed by a cardiologist for Ebstein Anamoly and in 2009 had a tricuspid valve repair. All has been well with the exception of 18 months ago I had some fainting episodes and learned I had A-flutter. I had a cardiac ablation and was fitted with a pacemaker a year later because holter monitoring picked up heart block (type 2).

The other day I got a call from the heart clinic asking me to schedule another ablation-my pacemaker was indicating some irregularities with the electricity of my heart. I am back on a blood thinner and scheduled for the procedure in a week.

Does anyone else live with this condition? I often wonder..."what's next???" Would love to hear where I might get a second opinion in this type of disorder.

1 Comments

Second opinion

by golden_snitch - 2013-12-15 04:12:29

Hi Michelle!

I don't have congenital heart disease, but have dealt with all kinds of arrhythmias and have a pacemaker since 14 years.

If they want to do an ablation now, without having confirmed what the pacer shows with a holter monitor, I'd definitely get a second opinion, if I were you. Pacemaker reports very often pick up something as an arrhythmia which is in fact none; artefacts.

Sounds a lot like what they found is atrial fibrillation, and usually the preceeding for this arrhythmia is that you first try a betablocker and at least one antiarrhythmic drug (like Flecainide). If both fail to control the arrhythmia, you can go for an ablation. Also, all the great EPs I know don't treat atrial fibrillation with ablations, if the patient isn't symptomatic. There are even patients with permanent atrial fibrillation who are not symptomatic. They get a blood thinner, but nothing else. Last but not least, you should know that ablations for atrial fibrillation are rarely successful with the first attempt. Success rates with just one ablation are around 60%. Most patients need two or three afib ablations, and even with those the success rates are only 80%, not 90%-100%.

Good luck!

Inga

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