heart ablavation getting closer date question

Ablation Feedback

by MattinMSP - 2022-11-04 19:01:56

Hi! I've had three ablation procedures to fix multiple pathway WPW, unfortuantely all unsuccessful for the most part. I will give you my experience and thoughts.

The procedure is generally not very invasive. They will likely enter through veins in the groin, both sides, but not the femoral artery just the veins. The wounds are minimal and will heal very quickly within a week or two. The worst part is the local anethestic they put in your legs, but you may already have your twilight ane by then which will help. 

In my three procedures, I was knocked out for one(I think on accident), and half lucid for the other two. The half lucid procedures were actually kinda interesting because I was awake, yes drugged up, but was able to watch on the screen as they mapped the pathways in my heart and worked on them. The procedures lasted about 1-2 hours. Yes, the recovery requires laying fairly still for 3-6 hours so your wounds can heal up without pressure complicating things. Depending how you take the anesthesia, laying still for that amount of time may not be hard since you may sleep it off a bit.

Not sure about your specific condition, but they often have to disclose all possible terrible and fatal things that CAN happen during a procedure. These things are usually very rare, and just tell yourself there's no better place to have a heart attack than in the EP/Cath lab! Haha, that's a little cardio humor for you. Seriously though, ask your EP or cardiologist all these questions and don't leave or hang up the phone until they answer everything.

We don't always get the answer we want to hear, but it's important that we get an answer that is complete and factual to all the questions we have.

Ablations

by AgentX86 - 2022-11-04 21:03:09

I've had three ablations, an AV ablation, and a carotid angiogram (started out to be a stent).  All of them weht through the groin (plus I had a heart cath through the wrist).  None were a big deal. I had twilight anestheic for one ablation and the heart cath.  Everything else was done with only a local. Only the carotid angiogram was a big deal because it didn't use the femoral vein, rather the femoal artery. The femoral artery has a much higher pressure so I did have to lay on my back for five hours (I don't know which hurt more, my back or my bladder).

Over 99% of ablations are done with no serious complicatoins.  It is surgery so there is always a chance something can go very wrong but that's part of life (something can go very wrong while you're sleeping in your bed).

The ablation itself is a nothing-burger. The recovery is uncomfortable but there is no way it should be six hours, more like two or three at most. One thing to ask for is "collegen plugs", which are exactly what they sound like.  They stick them in the wound to help close it.  They greatly reduce the recovery time. Over a few days the body just absorbes the plugs. I didn't know about them when I had my ablations but they may have used them without my knowledge. My docs will answer any questions but won't offer (what they think) is trivial information.

They will probably prep both sides in  case they can't use a vein for some reason.  But only one is used.

As far as the time for the ablatoins... Mine were relatively fast.  My EP knew where he was going so didn't have to do any mapping to find the culprit.  He did have to punch though the septum because my problem was atypical Aflutter. The reason I had three is they (all) failed.  The reason that I had the AV ablation was that they all failed.

Don't worry, you'll be fine and writing this answer for the next person.

Precaution

by AgentX86 - 2022-11-05 02:11:38

My guess (I'd never get a leadless so haven't researched them in any depth) is the reason both access points are needed is that the PM is fairly large so couldn't get another catheter in the vein, should it be needed. They can come in from the other direction.

It has to be the vain because it goes into the right atrium, which is where the SI node is. In the case of a ventricle lead (or PM) the ventricle is accessed through the tricuspid valve from the RA to the LA.  Arteries come from the left ventricle, so you can't get there from here.