In the last 7-8 years, yes I had a few cases. The rate is less than 1% for mild or moderate Much less for severe. With the use of intracardiac echo, the risk is very low. I usually obtain a CT scan 3-4 months post ablation.
I have been performing Pulmonary vein antral isolation's (PVAIs) for 8 years and performed almost 3,800 procedures. The average success rate among all patients is around 94%. Many factors determine the success depending on the condition of the left atrium.
: It is very difficult for me to answer your first question since I do not know your AF burden, meaning I do not know the percentage of time your are in AF. A 24-hour Holter may not be enough to give us a complete account. But you also had 79 runs of what the Holter named SVT, which could very likely be atrial flutter. From your description above of the lesion they placed during the ablation, I have to assume that your arrhythmia was also atrial flutter, an arrhythmia strongly associated with Afib. Given your age and your history, I would agree that Coumadin may be necessary. As for your second question, probably taking two separate doses of 12.5 mg of Toprol instead of one 25 mg, will probably be more tolerated.
The choice will be entirely yours after you have done a thorough research of your options. I have expressed a few concerns regarding surgical interventions of AF and you can find these in several of my responses on this site.
First, please make sure that your Thyroid replacement therapy is being followed and that your thyroid panel is normal. Then I would ask your cardiologist to give you some kind on monitoring device to record your heart rhythm for an extended period of time. In our practice we use a 21-day monitor to get a full picture of the arrhythmia activity and to try to correlate symptoms with rhythms.
When taking Sotalol, we usually obtain a daily EKG for 3 days to watch for certain changes and make sure that the drug is safe for any particular patient. In general Sotalol is a safe drug if EKGs remain within the normal limits.
Dr. Andrea Natale
Dr. Andrea Natale is a board certified electrophysiology expert and practices at executive medical director of the Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Institute at St. David's Medical Center in Austin, Texas. Dr. Natale also is the Senior Medical Director at Pacific Atrial Fib and Arrhythmia Center in San Francisco. He visits MetroHealth in Cleveland, and Akron General, Ohio. He has pioneered a new circumferential ultrasound vein-ablation system to correct atrial fibrillation and performed the procedure on the world's first five patients. For further details Please visit :Link
Dr. Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy
Dr. Dhanunjaya Lakkireddy, MD, F.A.C.C, FHRS. is a board certified electrophysiology expert and practices at Mid-America Cardiology and The University of Kansas Hospital Clinics in Kansas City, KS, USA. He has several distinctions in clinical and research career to his credit and serves as an associate editor for Journal of Atrial Fibrillation.For further details Please visit :Link
Dr. Dhanunjay Lakkireddy, MD, F.A.C.C, FHRS, The Kansas City Heart Rhythm Institute (KCHRI), KS, USA.
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