Catheter Ablation for a Fast Heart Rate

What To Expect

You may stay in the hospital overnight. You may have swelling, bruising, or a small lump around the site where the catheters went into your body. You can do light activities at home. Don't do anything strenuous until your doctor says it is okay. This may be for several days.

Why It Is Done

Catheter ablation is used for people who have persistent or recurrent fast heart rates.^{footnote 1, footnote 2, footnote 3}

Ablation might be done to treat:

• Supraventricular tachycardia (SVT).
• Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome.
• Ventricular tachycardia.

Catheter ablation might be done to prevent episodes, relieve symptoms, or prevent future problems. You can decide with your doctor if the benefits of ablation outweigh the possible risks of the procedure.

How Well It Works

Catheter ablation can eliminate atrioventricular nodal reciprocating tachycardia (AVNRT), a type of supraventricular tachycardia, in almost all cases.^{footnote 4}

This procedure can successfully eliminate WPW most of the time. There is a small risk of the arrhythmia recurring even after successful ablation of WPW. But a second session of catheter ablation is usually successful.^{footnote 4}

For ventricular tachycardia, catheter ablation might make the arrhythmia happen less often or stop the arrhythmia from happening again.^{footnote 5}

Risks

Problems during and after catheter ablation are not common. But the procedure has some risks. They include:

• Bleeding.
• Blood vessel problems from the catheter.
• Cardiac tamponade.
• Electrical system damage in the heart so a pacemaker is needed.
• Heart attack.
• Heart valve damage.
• Pericarditis.
• Stroke.
• Death. This is rare, happening in fewer than 1 out of 100 people.^{footnote 6}

Some risks are more likely with certain types of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). Your doctor can help you know your risk. You will have to decide whether the possible benefits of ablation outweigh these risks. Your doctor can help you decide.