Getting an ablation: How do you find the best doctor?

Has Dr AJ Deshmakh Sept 6 ablation. He is AWESOME and knows what he is doing. My daughter cardiology Chief, San Antonio, USArmy, came for it and she was very pleased.

Thank you Mary for your reply. Was this your 1st Ablation? Assume you have stayed in sinus rhythm.

Yes it was. It takes about three mos for heart to get adjusted but AFib is down to about .5% burden if that. I m doing great. Very happy I did it.

Congrats on your success !
Did your doc use Catheter & Cryo or both ? Do you know if an EP study (mapping) was done first to find all the bad actors? What is .5 % burden - how measured?
Whatever used worked for you. I will be looking for second ablation with afib, flutter & pacs. Hoping no 2 will get it as do not want to go drug route.

The funny thing is have no symptoms. Feel fine & completely unaware had this condition. Keep wondering if this heart is so burdened, inefficient why unnoticed ? Maybe someone has heard an explanation?

Catheter both groin pulmonary veins. Went in at 9 am out until 1 pm. Gen anesthesia. Woke up in hospital room. Overnight one night. Mapping was about 3 hours, zapping about an hour w robot. Tested end of procedure by trying to force heart back into AFib. Would not do. Burden measured 24/7 w home monitor connected to Mayo via my pacemaker electronically be c I have 6 sec pauses thus a Pacer to regulate. Normal is 2-3 sec pauses. Burden is % of time in AFib. Be/f ablation was 49.5% in AFib month of Aug. Ablation Sept 6. Mayo is awesome. They train their own EPs. My daughter sends Cards there to get trained for the Army Med Corps. Live only 50 mi away so easy for me.

It's so good that everything went well for you! Bravo!

Thanks again Mary for good detail. Appears Mapping was very important to id all the bad signals. Then robot - had not heard of before. Appears Dr Deshmakh uses all latest technology. My dr here in WA did not use mapping at all.

The key to successful procedure is the EP cardiologist and how/where he was trained.Mapping is the biggest part and take about 75% of the procedure time. It s key to successful results.
The EP doc has to know what he is doing. Not all are created equal. I have a friend who had an ablation somewhere else. Then a second time at Mayo who told him his first ablation had really screwed- up mapping. It took Mayo a long time in the EP lab to get everything straightened out.

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I had an ablation with mapping done 4 weeks ago by Dr Munger. He's absolutely amazing as well!!

Thank you so much for dr
Munger reference. Assume you had good ablation & remain in rhythm. Be traveling from west coast.
Wondering about timeframes for testing & procedure? Anything you can share about your procedure appreciated.