After how many ablations should one say no more?

[Bonnielous]

Hi, My husband has been cardioverted 5 times, has had 6 ablations and one maze procedure and is still in a-fib. After the maze procedure he stayed in sinus rhythm for about 6 weeks and then had to have his 6th ablation. He stayed in sinus rhythm for almost a year and a half, in may of this year, he kicked back into a-fib. He has a pacemaker/defibrillator for his very high heart rate. At resting, his heart rate is around 150. He has been shocked 3 times by his defibrillator for his heart rate reaching 222. At one point, we were told to start thinking about having him put on a heart transplant list because his heart got too big and was too weak. We have been to 4 different cardiologist for this issue and now, they are saying he needs a 7th ablation. Im just wondering, how many is too many? At what point does it become too dangerous for him? Mind you, he is only 31 years of age.

[helper400]

maybe you can help me i am scared i to had a maze and mtrial valve repalced in august and right ablation in oct and left ablation 6 days ago and took 5 hours and they had to stop the procedure when they got closer to my new mitral vavle sayng it was to risky my doctor is talking to his mentor for more ideas and says there are non approved procedures out there i have going on with this for a while and still have high heart rate 120-135 with activity if i sit and do nothing it is 85-95 i have not been back to my job since june and am planning on going back in one and half week but i know i will collapse with this same problem i am scared

[Bonnielous]

My husband also had open heart to repair the mitral valve and they did the maze procedure while he was already in there and six months later had to have another ablation. That was the last ablation that he had. I guess I just didn't know if too many ablations would eventually cause more harm than good? I know that is a good question for the doctor, I guess I just was looking for answers from someone that has kind of the same issue?

[Jerry_NJ]

I am very sorry to read you and your husband have such a horrendous medical problem.

I too suffer from AFib and have undergone open heart surgery and had a mini maze while there to stop my AFib, it didn't.  The main reason for my surgery was to repair my mitral valve, that did work.

I don't see any way anyone reading your post could offer any kind of a reasonable guess, you have to go with what your doctors tell you.  But, from the what you have described and given the very young age a heart transplant should be included in your discussions with his doctors.

In my case, I was very lucky by comparrison, my AFib didn't become a problem until I was about 57 years old... AFib is more common, as is other health problems, in the aging.  You folks are too young go for anything other than a "cure" - I think, but do not know, that heart transplant are very well understood and have a good record of success.

There is one person who contributes to this community who has mentioned his father had a heart transplant and it has worked out well.

[Bonnielous]

He is on a couple different rhythm meds. We actually live in a small town in New Mexico, so we have to travel for any medical treatment. His surgeries have been in Lubbock TX, Austin TX and Denver CO. We have been seen by very good doctors, his case is just very complicated. They actually had to stop what would have been the 4th surgery due to him going into V-Tac and V-Fib. At this point, we are worried that if we don't do it, he will end up worse off than he already is but if he does do it, would it be too much for his heart to handle??

[DeltaDawn23]

When there is a particularly complicated issue, a teaching hospital can often find an answer.  Not sure where you've been or where you live, but believe I would seek out the best I could find, i.e., Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic. Perhaps you could get another opinion.  I have afib that is intermittent persistent.  Dr. Sirak at Ohio State University is doing a 5 box thorascopic maze with very good results.  I am taking an antiarrythmic, Norpace that is keeping me stable for now.  Plan to be evaluated at the Cleveland Clinic.  Good luck with this.  Let us know how he's doing.