Cardiovascular Catheter ablation

Once a drug fails, catheter ablation is best in patients with atrial fibrillation, said Dr. David Wilber, of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University, whose study appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Globally, 10 million people have atrial fibrillation, 80,000 are treated with catheter ablation. Ablation, is to burn parts of the heart's electrical signals emitting erratic. The procedure is performed by inserting a thin tube into a blood vessel, usually somewhere in the thigh or neck, which runs through the body and into your heart. When the tube reaches the area causing the arrhythmia, a device emits radio frequency energy to destroy tissue. Patients with atrial fibrillation who receive ablation stop feeling recurring symptoms one year after treatment. None of the patients treated with ablation to severe complications such as heart attack or stroke.