If you have an irregular heartbeat, you may have tried medication and other treatments without success. When nothing else seems to be working, ablation is an effective procedure that blocks the signals causing beat irregularity. The experienced cardiologists at Heart One Associates offer ablation and multiple other state-of-the-art cardiovascular procedures to diagnose and treat heart conditions in adults. Call one of their offices in Peoria, Buckeye, and Phoenix, Arizona, today or click Book an Appointment.
Ablation treats irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) conditions that haven't responded to medication or cardioversion — a procedure that resets the heartbeat.
The cardiology team at Heart One Associates uses it when treating hearts that beat over 100 beats per minute (tachycardia) and atrial fibrillation (AFib) — a condition that causes the top and bottom chambers to beat out of sync with one another.
An irregular heartbeat can cause shortness of breath, fatigue, and heart palpitations — and in some cases, stroke. Untreated atrial fibrillation can cause blood clots and even heart attacks. Ablation helps restore regular heart activity, reducing the risk of these problems occurring.
Your physician at Heart One Associates may recommend you have ablation if you answer yes to any of the following questions:
Ablation isn't suitable for everybody. Before moving forward with an ablation procedure, your doctor tries other arrhythmia and AFib treatments. Ablation is typically used only when other treatments haven't worked.
Ablation creates tiny scars in the heart using hot or cold energy. The scars block the abnormal electrical signals that are moving through the heart, causing the beat irregularity. Your physician at Heart One Associates may recommend a catheter ablation or the less-common surgical ablation, depending on your symptoms and area of the heart affected.
Your doctor inserts a catheter — a thin tube — into a blood vessel in your neck or leg and directs it to your heart. Once there, they use radiofrequency (heat) or cryoablation (cold) to create scars.
Surgical ablation treatments, such as the maze, mini maze, and convergent procedures, involve cutting into the chest to make tiny scars on the heart.
In all of these cases, you receive either an intravenous (IV) anesthetic to make you feel drowsy or a general anesthetic to put you unconscious. Your doctor assesses your condition and talks you through your treatment options for the most effective recovery.
The team at Heart One Associates has years of experience performing ablations to treat potentially serious heart conditions. Find out if you're a candidate for ablation treatment. Call the practice today or request an appointment online.
