Has anyone had more than one catheter ablation for SVT? - Heart Disorders Message Board

am · 06-10-2003, 04:48 PM

I had an ablation done in March for SVT - they ablated an extra pathway and an abnormal focus. Since then my episodes have continued and increased in frequency. My doctor is referring me back to the EP - -has anyone needed more than one EP Study/ablation??

Thanks in advance!

ojohnr · 06-11-2003, 03:14 AM

hello. my doctor recommends me to habe an ablation to help my a-fib i get yearly. i am terrified of it, but can you kindly tell me how it is like.

and to answer your question, my doc said there is a small posibility change they might have to do a second ablation to fully correct the problem.

my fear is the side effects

assmaker, artery hardening, possible stroke/heart attack.

thanks

martys3 · 06-12-2003, 04:52 PM

HI, I am 31 yr old male. When i was 13 I was diagnosed with wolf-parkinson-white sysndrom which caused my heart to palpitate. In 1989 I had an ep study where they just mapped my heart, but they didn't have the ablation tech down yet. In 1992 I had an ep study with rf ablation and I had no problems until about 1 year ago. I started getting palpitations again in 2002 and they came mostly when i sat down on the couch to relax. I tried to stop caffiene and I went to the cardiologist who ran the normal tests, ekg, echocardiogram, holtermonitor and got the answer that i have an irregular heart beat and it wasn't anything to really worry about. Recently, my palpitations came more frequently, and the cardiologist ordered me another 24 hour holter monitor and they saw some Pre-marture atrial contractions and some Tachycardia ( 145 beats per minute). I went to have an ep study yesterday morning and they found AV node reentry tachycardia path which they had ablated. So far, I feel much better, but the doctor wasn't able to say 100 percent if this was the cause, but I know for the last year and a half i was very concious of my heart beat because it felt like it skipped beats a lot and would beat fast at times. Today, I actually don't feel my heart beating and things seem normal again. The ep study has come along way since 92, which i remember every minute of it, but all i remember from yesterday is being wheeled into the room and then being in the reovery room. Hope this helps.

broncosfan · 06-12-2003, 11:35 PM

I've had two. One was back in 1991, when it was still considered exploratory. The other was in 2001. Both with the same result, incomplete effectiveness.

I told my doctor a few months after the first attempt that I was still having episodes. He flat-out denied that it could be happening, citing the follow-up EP study showed that the path had been eliminated.

I continued for years with intermittent probs, including bouts of very frequent PAC's & PVC's that would last a few days to a week at a time, during which I would have many episodes of SVT. One of these periods of extra beats was particularly bad, lasting almost a month. So I went back, they verified with a monitor that I was having SVT again, and it turned out to be the same pathway.

So I had ablation #2. As I was waking up, I heard the doctor telling my mother that, unfortunately, the same thing happened again. Apparently, on both attempts, I had an extra beat about 10 seconds into the procedure that jarred the catheter out of position. Of course, this infuriated me, as he basically was telling me that I was crazy after the first attempt failed, and he knew that the procedure did not go smoothly.

I still get episodes, but they are so infrequent now, about once a month, that I'm not concerned. If they get bad again, I'll probably consider going back for another try with a different doctor. Really don't like the idea of having multiple scars on the interior of my heart, regardless of how small they are.

ojohnr · 06-13-2003, 03:27 AM

seems like the ablation didn't really work for you folks. the specialist i spoke to said it is 99% effective. there are 1% chance of 2nd ablation. some side effects are narrowing of the main arteries at the ablation sight.

more i research about it, the less i want to do it. it doesn't seem to be the best thing.

also, what is the cost?