Mild Chest pain following radiofrequency catheter ablation

[Gotamutt]

Good Evening.  I had Radiofrequency catheter ablation to cure a bad PVC and Bradycardia issue.  I'm 4 days post op and noticing some mild pain in the chest, heart area.  B/P, and pulse are great!  I am just wondering how long this chest pain should last.  I had ablation caths enter through the groin, and mid chest by the xiphoid process to zap a spot on the exterior of the heart.  Thanks for any comments.  I had my procedure done at UCSD Medical Center in San Diego and they are great!

[cindy707]

Good Morning i read your post,,,,i agree w. twinbee it is very very normal after the procedure...you will be experiencing all sorts of things over the next 6 months that you probably thought you never would trust me.  You have to remember that they poked, prodded and penetrated the structural part of your heart and minimally the interior.  In a nutshell your heart is still swollen from the procedure, your electrical pathway is trying to find the new route instead of going back to the old bad way and mild pain is a part of this.  Its going to take time for your heart to return to its normal size in the area that they treated so relax a little and just remember what your doc said....no heavy lifting for at least a week or two and don't over do it physically or you may set off a couple of random episdoes of the PVC's.  Congrats on taking the leap in getting the ablation done...it was the best thing i ever did for myself and try to remember that right now you are just hyper sensative like we all were right after the procedure because you may be worried that the procedure was a fail and that also takes up to 6 months to determine thoroughly.  I know for myself the first month was a little spooky for me because i didn't want it to be a fail and kept looking for something to be wrong when nothing was.......good luck and have a great day!

[twinbee]

I had an ablation for a-fib and a-flutter in January 08. I had mild chest pain whenever I took a breath in for about a week. I think this is pretty normal.