Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Atrial fibrillation (AF or afib) is an abnormal heart rhythm (cardiac arrhythmia) which involves the two small, upper heart chambers (the atria). Heart beats in a normal heart begin after electricity generated in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and cause contraction of the heart muscle and pumping of blood.

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Heart, Blood & Circulation
/ Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) Support Group

Hybrid ablation procedure

nymima
nymima
Good morning all! I am new to this group, although not new to A-fib. I have recently heard of a "hybrid ablation procedure" that is minimally invasive. I am not the patient. My 88 yr. old mother is and she cannot have any general anesthesia. She has persistent A-fib now. Can anyone comment on this procedure? We see the cardiologist in a month and would like to ask him if this is something that would help her. He has directed us to see an electrophysiologist, but she has refused since she was under the impression that anything they do requires general anesthesia.
queenjuju
queenjuju
I hadn't heard about this procedure so looked it up on-line. Sounds promising for those difficult to treat. It is ablation and surgery. I expect the surgery would be under general anesthesia. I don't know for certain. Ablutions use awake anesthesia, so that might be better for your mother. I am thinking that if she has had AFib for many years just an ablation might not work. Does your mom feel the symptoms of AFib?
axiomtherapy
axiomtherapy
Yes its definitely under general
nymima
nymima
GM! Mom has had A-fib for over 20 yrs. She is now in A-fib several times a week. She does square breathing exercises to calm herself down, and that seems to help her a lot. She is afraid of gen. anesthesia because when she had a hysterectomy 5 yrs. ago, she flat lined 6 times, and went into A-fib after that for many, many days. She ended up with a pace-maker because her pulse would drop to only 37 beats a minute and she was also passing out. So she would never go for any surgery that required gen anesthesia. She had heard about the hybrid ablation on one of her doctor shows, and wondered about it. So I thought I would put it out there, in case anyone had experience with the surgery.

Mom does feel the symptoms every time. She gets terrible flank pain afterwards too, with is dibilitating. We are seeing a kidney specialist in regards to this flank pain. She had an ultra-sound for possible cysts. If she has kidney disease, she is at double the risk for a stroke. She is 88 yrs. old. TY