av abaltion: worth it?

[browntrout2010]

Greetings. Last week, I went to have an EPS SVT ablation. I have had svt for nearly 20 yrs, and for the most part, have been able to control it with verapamil. However, the svt has been a problem lately, so I decided to have the procedure done. I am very active and have no heart disease issues.

The medical staff was able to determine the problem is occurring near the AV Node. The doctor did not want to attempt to ablate since it was so near the av node. I have been referred to a specialist down in SLC.

Can an av node ablation be performed without destroying it completely to where I would need a pacemaker? I really do not want a pace maker at this point. Do most av node ablations result in needing a pacemaker? I'm too young for this!!

Thanks.

[cindy707]

Hi i had an ablation for SVT a couple of years ago and it was a definately success for me ....the procedure is pretty simple however you are right you want to stay away from the Sinus and AV nodes because they are basically the brain of the heart i know that the Sinus Node is the worse of the two evils with the procedure and you could always tell the doc to go ahead with the procedure as long as he/she has an understanding that they stop the procedure if they feel they are too close to the nodes.  There are some very specific questions i would ask the doc tho before you proceed...one would be to ask them how many ablations that they have done and if they haven't done at least 1500 of them i wouldn't even touch that one, ask them how many of the procedures out of those they have done resulted in a pacemaker being required after the ablation, ask them if they know a Dr. Natale and Scheinmann and if they have never heard of them i would look for a second opinion because those are the two docs that developed the procedure, sometimes for all of us the risk is worth the outcome but what you don't want is a doc w. a "God" complex that doesn't back off no matter what they are facing.  It is a tough decision to make you just need to make sure that all of your ducks are in a row here...the ablations come three ways....RF (radio frequency meaning that the situation is corrected thru basically sound waves) , Cryo (which is freezing of the area) and Heat/Burning (which is they burn the area to correct it)  Of the three heat is the one you want to stay away from because of scarring that happens more often than not and can give you long term problems and cyro and rf are the most common.  Also i would make sure that the doc is planning on going thru a vein and not an artery which was the old school way of doing it which also has some issues.  Just be sure you love your doc and trust them 100% because you are putting your life and future in their hands.....good luck.......

[PikaPika88]

Try to look for info "Cryoablation".  It isn't like the Radio frequency ablation.