Page contents
- What is a catheter ablation?
Catheter ablation
Ablation (meaning ablation) is a treatment for arrhythmia - a condition that results in a change in the rhythm of the heartbeat from the normal state, through a local disruption of the center of the arrhythmia, in the electrical fiber or in the electrical circuit that causes the disturbance. This local disruption is mostly done by means of a catheter that is inserted through the groin (the area between the thighs and the lower abdomen) until it reaches the heart, through the blood vessels.
At its tip, the catheter carries a device designed for local heating of heart tissue by radiofrequency ablation. This heating destroys the arrhythmogenic center or circuit, causing it to disappear.
Catheterization is appropriate for many people who suffer from SVT - Supraventricular tachycardia and for some of those who suffer from ventricular tachycardia or who respond (particularly atrial tachycardia).
This process ends, in a large portion of patients, with their complete and final recovery from the arrhythmia. Others, patients with rapid and stubborn atrial fibrillation that do not respond to any other treatment, are treated with ablation in order to separate the conduction system (conduction system) in the area of the atrioventricular node, so that the ventricular reaction becomes slow, although Rapid atrial fibrillation.
This procedure requires the implantation of an artificial pacemaker, because the ventricles are separated from the source of their natural rhythms.
Today, ablation therapy is the preferred method of treatment over drug therapy, in part of supraventricular arrhythmias, and in other arrhythmias, if drug therapy is unsuccessful or intolerable.
This procedure is performed under local or general anesthesia, in the catheterization room or in the electrophysiology laboratory. At first, catheters are inserted into a vein or artery in the groin, and sometimes to an additional vein in the arm or neck, and then connected (routed) to different places in the heart, with the help of X-ray detection. After the catheters are placed in the heart, the electrical activity in the heart is recorded by all the catheters and with the help of a very smart recording device.
When an arrhythmia occurs, its source is sought by moving the catheters inside the heart and recording the electrical activity in different places inside it, until determining the source of the arrhythmia (this process is called “mapping”). At the conclusion of the placement, when the center of the arrhythmia or the circuit causing it has been determined, a few times a burn is performed by one of the catheters in order to eliminate the source of the arrhythmia. This process takes between one and three hours, and sometimes it may take longer.
The success rate of this operation depends on the type of the disorder. In general, the success rate is greater than 90% in simple supraventricular arrhythmias, as well as in some ventricular arrhythmias. The rate of possible complications for this operation is low, while the rate of serious complications is less than 1%.
smilesإخفاء