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afib ablation procedure

I am scheduling an ablation procedure for an afib.  I was looking for some information about what to expect during the procedure, is it painful, will I be awake and any other information that would be helpful. Also was wondering how successful this procedure is.  Thanks.

Debi
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Avatar universal
I had an ablation for a-fib & a-flutter 5 years ago. I have been in NSR ever since. I agree with Claytex that this procedure was very easy. My ablation took 8 hours. I was put in a "twilight". I was asleep for  95% of the time. When I woke up the nurses just but me back to sleep. I had very little pain or bruising in the groin area. I did have some chest discomfort for about a day after the procedure. In my opinion the worst part of the ablation was having to lay flat on my back for so long. When they woke me up, my back was killing me. They did give me some medication to relieve the pain. I would not hesitate to have another one is needed. Good Luck. Wishing you well, and wishing you enough...
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1089281 tn?1314567514
Debbie: I have had two ablations.  The first was about 3-4 years ago for afib and the procedure stopped my afib.. I have had -0- afib since the procedure.  To me there was nothing to the procedure itself.  They put me under and I woke up 1-2 hours after after the ablation and I think the ablation lasted about 3 hours... All I remember was them taking me to the procedure room and giving me the iv for the anesthesia... My groin was bruised some  and was a little sore for 3-4 days.  I wasn't supposed to lift anything over 10lbs for 3-4 days... It wasn't bad at all.  My second procedure was for a few pvcs and it helped but I still have a few pvcs and I take 50mgs of flecainde  twice daily for the pvcs and I never have a problem.  The Afib and pvcs are in different areas of the heart as I understand it.  They could not get my heart to act up for the pvcs and they actually didn't do much because they could not tell where to ablate. The Afib area is much easier to locate  according to what my Doctor told me... and you don't need to be in afib when they do the ablation.Any way  that's my story...bottom line there is nothing to be concrerned about as far as the procedure itself...Just hope they can ablate the correct area  and stop the afib...and it could be 3-4 months before you really know if the procedure was successful. I do not plan to try another one  Im 71 and doing fine now that the afib is history..my pvcs aren't bad even when untreated.. .  The afib is dangerous and the pvcs are just a nuisance.  HOpe this helps >>>I wish you the very best... Claytex
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1807132 tn?1318743597
I can't give you advice about afib ablations but I did have an ablation for an accessory pathway svt.  The dynamics of the ablations between the 2 are quite different for the doctor from what I understand but I believe from the patient's perspective they are pretty similar.  I was awake but pretty sedated.  I think for the most part most people fall asleep.  Essentially mine was like going in and getting a couple of IVs put in and then they revved up my heart.  You can read about my ablation by clicking my name and reading my journal entry.  Again, yours may be a bit different but it is similar to what you will experience though they may keep you overnight with an afib ablation, not sure on that.  

As for success rates they aren't as good as they were for me but many have had really good success.  I'm also not sure of the long term success but from what I understand it is better to try sooner rather than later to fix afib as it can become worse and get to a point where it can't be fixed.  But in general I will say regardless of your odds the procedure itself is nothing compared to having regular surgery.  I have had 2 abdominals that were hell compared to an ablation so you should be pleasantly surprised.  I wish you the best of luck on a successful ablation and keep us posted on how everything goes.  
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