Cardiac Ablation

Normal heart rhythms can be disturbed when the electrical system that keeps the heart beating regularly gets blocked. This can be cured by medicine but sometimes the only effective treatment is to destroy the tissue that is holding the problem. This is called a cardiac ablation. It is a non-surgical procedure that involves inserting catheters, which are thin wires into a blood vessel and winding the wire into the heart. The journey from the entry point to the heart is manoeuvred using images created by an x-ray like machine. The electrodes at the tip of the catheter gather information and make electrical measurements when the catheter reaches the heart. This data is needed to find the faulty area.

Confirmation of the faulty area means that a small amount of the tissue can be destroyed which ends the electrical disturbance and restores the heart rhythm adequately. Freezing or cauterising the tissue can destroy it. During the procedure the patient may be sedate but they often watch the procedure on monitors. There is generally no pain but the patient may experience discomfort. After the procedure the patient has to lie still for a number of hours in order to make sure that the entry point has started to heal.

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