Feeling Out of Sync? Heart Ablation Could Turn Your Beat Around

Does your heart ever race, skip a beat, or flutter? In most cases, it’s harmless. But millions of Americans do get dangerous heart arrhythmias: uneven heartbeats that happen when your heart’s electrical system isn’t working the way it should. You could also have arrhythmias without feeling any symptoms. They’re sometimes found during a routine exam.

What can you do to fix a dangerous arrhythmia? A heart ablation procedure could be the answer. Ablation of the heart changes how the electrical signals move through it.

“Living with an arrhythmia can be challenging. Because they’re unpredictrable, arrythmias can cause anxiety, stress, and affect your overall well-being,” says Maheswari Murugesan, ACNP, MSN, RN, an acute care nurse practitioner and heart disease specialist at UVA Health.

Read on to see:

• Why you might need a heart ablation
• Who should have an ablation
• Types of ablation procedures

What Is Ablation of the Heart?

Heart ablation, also called cardiac ablation, uses heat or cold to make tiny scars on your heart. These scars block or change faulty electrical signals that cause uneven heartbeats. That can restore your heart’s normal beat.

Some arrhythmias make your risk for stroke, heart failure, and cardiac arrest higher. Having an ablation also lowers these risks and reduces or stops symptoms like:

• Trouble breathing
• Heart palpitations
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Chest pain

Ablation treats different types of arrhythmias:

Arrhythmias aren’t the only problems that can put your heart out of whack. Read about the types of heart disease.

Who Needs a Heart Ablation?

Medication is often the first thing doctors try to treat an arrhythmia.

But sometimes, the medicine doesn’t work well or you may have side effects. If that’s the case, an ablation might be the right choice for treatment. You also may need an ablation if:

• You’re at risk for sudden cardiac arrest or other conditions
• You don’t want to take medications due to long-term side effects

What Does a Heart Ablation Procedure Look Like?

There are 3 main types of heart ablation procedures.

Catheter Ablation

During catheter ablation, a long, thin tube (called a catheter) is put into a blood vessel through a small cut (called an incision) in your leg or groin. The doctor (a heart rhythm specialist called an electrophysiologist) guides the catheter through your blood vessels and into your heart. The catheter helps pinpoint the area causing the abnormal heart rhythm, which can be treated with heat or cold energy to block the electrical signals.

“Catheter ablation targets and treats the source of abnormal heart rhythms with minimal impact on surrounding healthy tissue,” notes Murugesan.

Who gets it: It’s the most common ablation method for atrial fibrillation. Most people get a catheter ablation because the recovery is quicker than other methods. Your downtime is short and there aren’t any large incisions.

Surgical Ablation

This is an open-heart surgery done in an operating room. Surgeons get to your heart through an incision in the chest.

Who gets it: Most people only get surgical ablation if they’re already having surgery for another heart condition at the same time. You may also need surgery if catheter ablation doesn’t work for you or your arrhythmia is especially difficult to treat. One example would be if we need to treat an area of your heart where a catheter can’t reach.

Hybrid Ablation

This procedure combines catheter and surgical ablation, but it’s done without the open-heart surgery. There are 2 parts:

• Your surgeon uses small incisions to reach the outside of your heart through your chest
• Your electrophysiologist uses a catheter to get to the inside of your heart to do the ablation

Who gets it: Hybrid ablation is used for hard-to-treat atrial fibrillation and other arrhythmias. It can be effective because it treats areas on the inside and outside of your heart.

What Kind of Cardiac Ablation Is Right for Me?

The kind of ablation you get depends on a few factors:

• The type of arrhythmia you have and how severe it is
• How the arrhythmia responds to other treatment options
• Your overall health

It’s important to have an experienced team of heart rhythm specialists who can figure out the treatment that is right for you. UVA Health’s heart specialists are nationally recognized for their care. We work with you to develop a tailored strategy to identify the triggers for your arrhythmia. Then we get to work fixing the problem.

How Long Does It Take to Recover from a Cardiac Ablation?

Cardiac ablation recovery depends on the type of procedure you have. Other factors also play a role, like your overall health and age.

After a catheter ablation, most people go home the same day or the next day. You can usually return to light activity within 24 hours and get back to work in a few days or a week.

Murugesan says, “Many patients experience only mild discomfort during the recovery period. Recovery is typically straightforward, which allows patients to get back to their daily routines quickly.”

Recovery for surgical ablation or hybrid ablation takes longer. You’ll need to avoid strenuous activity for a few weeks. And, it may take a month or more before you can return to work and other activities.