How is Atrial flutter and fibrillation ablation performed?

Atrial Fibrillation: You will be admitted to hospital on the day of your scheduled procedure. The procedure will be carried out in a sterile Cath Lab and you will lie on an exam table. The nursing staff will then set up monitoring including ECG, X-Ray, blood pressure, oxygen saturation. You will be given a general anaesthetic for this procedure. Once under the effects of the anaesthetic, you will undergo a trans-oesophogeal echocardiogram to assess the heart before the procedure. The catheters are guided to your heart through the femoral vein in the groin using x-ray guidance. Once the catheters are in place, the ablation process wil begin. The duration of the procedure is quite variable and in general will take between 1 and 3 hours.

You will stay in hospital overnight and a transthoracic echocardiogram will be performed the next day.

Atrial Flutter: You will be admitted to hospital on the day of your scheduled procedure. The procedure will be carried out in a sterile Cath Lab and you will lie on an exam table. The nursing staff will then set up monitoring including ECG, X-Ray, blood pressure, oxygen saturation. You will be given a local anaesthetic at the site of catheter insertion and a light sedation for this procedure. Once under the effects of the anaesthetic, the catheters are guided to your heart through the femoral vein in the groin using x-ray guidance. Once the catheters are in place, the ablation process wil begin. The duration of the procedure van be quite variable and in general will take between 30 minutes and 2 hours.