CeCe55, it is exceedingly common for first ablations to fail. The reason is that the heart tissue is inflammed due to the burning (lesions), and the idea is that the lesions will eventually form scar tissue through, and around, which the spurious/extra signals cannot pass. The whole idea behind ablation surgery is to create scarring which dams, blocks, stockades, or cages (take your pick of descriptor) the signals from emerging from the pulmonary vein ostia and causing the atrium to contract chaotically. When a first ablation fails, the answer is simply that the eventual scarring that forms during the blanking period (ten-to-twelve weeks after the surgery) does not fully fence or block the entire circumference of the pulmonary veins. A second ablation will succeed because so much of the 'necessary' scarring as already taken place, and now the EP only has to begin to find the hole in the dam. In my case, they watched while they zapped three of my pulmonary veins. They didn't have to do the fourth vein because when they did one of the zaps, my heart immediately resumed normal sinus rhythm on its own. They stopped at that point (while do more scarring than the job needs?!), and my EP said he didn't even have to cardiovert me with shock to restore my normal rhythm, something that he and other EPs do routinely after catheter ablation. Yes, there were high fives all around when my heart thudded back into the normal thump-thump,...thump-thump. And, as you would probably enjoy hearing, I am now 14 weeks out and I feel SOOOOOO much better. People tell me I looked grey before the surgery, and that my demeanor is much improved. You can look forward to that.

Just one little tip. Remember that it is normal to have some bits, short runs, of AF during the blanking period, particularly in the early three-four weeks. If this should happen, and your rate remains above 100 for long, go get cardioverted. It is the right thing to do because your heart is not longer the same heart it was before this last ablation, and it needs to be shocked back into the proper rhythm. Since AF begets AF, don't let it go longer than 24 hours.

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