Atrial fibrillation is a heart condition that causes a quivering or irregular heartbeat, known as arrhythmia. It is a serious condition that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart complications. Medications are the first step to treating atrial fibrillation and if they cause side effects or don’t work, then there are other surgical and non-surgical procedures that doctors will recommend to those suffering from atrial fibrillation.
1. Electrical cardioversion
This involves the doctor giving the heart an electric shock for regulating the heartbeat. Doctors will stick patches or use paddles called electrodes onto the chest. First, the patient gets an anesthesia to make them fall asleep. Next, the doctor puts the paddles on the patient’s back, or sometimes their chest. They will be given a mild electrical shock to get the rhythm of their heart back to normal, with most people needing only one. Since the patients are sedated, they will not feel or remember getting the shock, and will usually be discharged the same day. Since the skin could be irritated in that area, the doctor could recommend lotions to ease the itching and pain.
2. Cardiac ablation
There are two major options – surgical ablation and pulmonary vein ablation a.k.a. catheter ablation, and radiofrequency which is the least invasive option as it is non-surgical.
3. Catheter ablation
The doctor inserts a flexible, thin tube within a blood vessel in the neck or leg, slowly guiding it towards the heart. When it reaches the region which is causing the arrhythmia, the tube sends out electrical signals which destroy those cells. The tissue that is treated helps your heartbeat to get back to normal.
There are two main kinds of catheter ablation:
Catheters are used to send radiofrequency energy creating circular scars around a group of veins or each vein.
A solitary catheter sends a substance-tipped balloon which freezes the tissues, causing a scar.
4. Surgical ablation
This involves surgery – in this case, cutting into the chest of the patient. It has various procedures:
This is usually done when the patient is also having an open-heart surgery for another health issue, such as valve replacement or bypass. This involves the surgeon making small cuts in the upper part of the heart, stitching them together to form scar tissue which stops abnormal signals.
This minimally-invasive option of mini maze involves the doctor making multiple small cuts between the ribs and using a camera to guide catheters for either radiofrequency ablation or cryoablation. Guided via a video camera in the chest, the doctor will create a scar tissue to fix the heartbeat.
This procedure pairs mini maze with catheter ablation, with the doctor using radiofrequency ablation in the pulmonary vein.
This procedure is suggested if one isn’t a good candidate for the above procedures, cannot take medications because of their side effects, or does not respond to any of the medications. AV node ablation involves the doctor inserting a catheter into a vein in the groin and sliding it up to the AV node, the nerve conducting electrical impulses between the top and bottom chambers of the heart. Radiofrequency energy will be sent through the catheter to destroy the AV node, stopping the signals from reaching the ventricle and allowing the doctor to implant the pacemaker.
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