Cleveland Clinic in Ohio is very good.

Dr. andre natale at the cleveland clinic developed the ablation procedure for a-fib. he is now at st. davids in austin tx.
both excellent places to go.
i had my ablation for a-fib at UAB in birmingham by dr. neil kay, an excellent dr. also.
be careful, a lot of dr. trying to learn this procedure, don't be a 'practice' patient.

Just be sure you go to an EP (electrophysiologist) who has done a lot of them. Most EP's will tell you how many they've done. Be sure to ask.

Cleveland Clinic is one of the best. Mayo Clinic also.U of Penn in Phiadelphia, too. I had mine done at NY Presbyterian/Cornell Univ.in Manhattan. There is usually just a brief hospital stay (manye a day maybe less) so it pays to travel and there places usually have a department to help with travel/lodging.
Good luck!

Thanks all, one problem I have is my insuranse will only pay half and I have a 4000 dollar deductable, my wife is a nurse and we are covered under her plan, if I have it done here it is 2000 deductable and then 80/20, but that is called in plan. This is really sad since being in healthcare you can't get the best care if you leave the hospital you are insured by. My wife talkes to an independant cardioligest who is not in the "group" that has the EP's in it, he said they do not do enough of them here and he would go to a place where they do them all the time, I guess he said the problem can be venus stenosis and you need alot of experience in case somthing happens. So about how much do these cost? I am a beer drinker and my regular doctor say if I quit that it might go away, I am in a-fib about 4 days a week for about 8hrs per insident.

I don't know if it is worth it but maybe you should call your insurance company to see if they have any "affiliations" with out-of-town hospitals that are known for ablation. Maybe even your doctor can call and make a case for it. It is a sub-specialty procedure after all.

You may have some luck. My daughter was recently denied coverage for a certain medication but her doctor called the insurance and they made an exception when her MD explained thatthe other meds didn't work foi her.

I'm not sure of your history - have you been cardioverted and tried the all of the various anti arythmia meds? I would exhaust all of those first and quit the alcohol. You are battling A-fib and need to try everything to stop it. As far as a hospital. All the ones mentioned in the previous posts have good reputations. Also - Brigham and Womens in Boston has done thousands of these. Always ask the Dr. how many they have done. My first ablation was done by someone who had about 500 under his belt, although I've been told at 1000 is the gold standard. There are also different methods and machines. I had my first with the Stereotaxis machine done at St. Francis in Htfd, CT Due for a second ablation in out 3 weeks at Brigam and this one will be done by hand. Good luck.

I live in Australia, si I can't help with your main concern. However, early into my episodes with A-fib with fairly high pulse rates, 160+, I found that drinking wine, even two glasses would set me off into A-Fib a few hours later. It is very difficult to change lifestyle habits but it is certainly worth the effort. I was surprised about how many people tried to make me have a glass or two when we went out to dinner, I was forced to say that it would land me in hospital and then they kept quiet. Fortunately now that I am older, the attempts to encourage me to have a glass or two have stopped. It is certainly worth ruling out alcohol as a possible contributor to your a-afib problem. Good luck, Ruth CR

I would agree to work on that beer. Alcohol, which is a depressant drug, has many medical complications, even in moderation. They may ask you about this before an ablation anyway. I'm sure you are aware that there are many ways to work with drinking thru private supportive counseling, AA, etc. It doesn't mean you are "alcoholic" but it may mean at this stage of your life you (your heart) is "allergic to alcohol."

I had an echo done last week and my atrium is borderline enlarged, I wonder if this is the cause of the a-fib, or maybe the enlargment is from the a-fib. I do know this, I am a farmer 45yrs old and have a hard time getting things done while in a-fib, the doc says some people don't know they're in it, well believe me, I do. Can the beer drinking might be an issue? Or is the doctor taking the easiest answer out? Anyway, does anyone know how much these cost? I am affraid to do it here now.

Longtime afib can certainly cause your heart enlargement. I, like you, was acutely aware of when I was in afib. It affected everything I did. It made me very tired and was it was very distracting to have my heart jumping around in my chest. When you look for an EP to do an ablation, ask what his/her success rate is. My local EP told me his success rate was 50% so I chose to go to the University of Washington in Seattle, 90 miles away, for my ablation because the EP there had a 74% success rate. Jsmo98, do you have health insurance? This procedure can be expensive.

I gave up coffee, tea, alcohol, and chocolate during the years I was in afib. I am now afraid to go back to any of these things. I do have a drink once in a while and will eat a little chocolate. I probably could drink a little coffee too, but I am gun shy.

I have also heard the Cleveland Clinic is very good. I had mine done at Stony Brook University Hospital on Long Island, NY. Dr Eric Rashba is my EP and is excellent with Afib. He explains everything very clearly. They have state of the art equipment. Robotics make it easier for them to isolate the area of the heart that is giving off the electrical impulses that cause Afib.