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After ablation, am I no longer a person with AFib?
I was diagnosed to be a person with AFib in 2016. As it goes with this issue, it continued to get worse over time with episodes lasting longer and becoming more frequent. I went from several events a year, lasting minutes, to 59 episodes in 2024 lasting 20+ hours each. I finally had a PF ablation at Mayo Rochester on February 20, 2025. (Advice, do NOT put this off). Four doctors told me early on that I needed to be on a blood thinner. I declined. Finally, I had to go on Eliquis to have the procedure. Now, the doctor doing my procedure said I could decide on continuing with Eliquis (for now, there will come a time in my life that I will be back on). I’m a 72M with a CHAD score of 2 (age and mild hypertension). CHA2DS2-VASc scoring says a man should be on an anticoagulant with a score of 1. I think of myself as a “young” 72 and my blood pressure is kept low with a small dose of amlodipine (2.5MG). He left it to my choice because the benefit/risk factors seem pretty equal for me. IF I am a person with AFib then my stroke risk is 3.5% without Eliquis (reduced to 0.9% with Eliquis) but with a 2.8% risk of a major bleed with Eliquis (0.49% without Eliquis). So, my risk and benefits are about even if I am a person with AFib. IF I am a person who does NOT HAVE AFib, then my stroke rate is 0.2%. So, have any of you ablated people heard from doctors about your AFib status. After a successful ablation, are you a person who DOES NOT HAVE AFib? [ I do understand that, by the raw numbers and my score of 2, the newest advice is to stay on Eliquis, but we know that numbers like age are not set in stone and equal for every person].
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After my ablation in March of this year at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, they wanted me to enroll in a study where I discontinued Eliquis, but wore an Apple watch and carried an Iphone to inform me when/if I was in Afib to resume taking Eliquis.
I turned them down because I didn't want to wear/carry the extra devices. I also wasn't crazy about being a guinea pig with a potential bad outcome!
I don't have the experience to say where a procedure is "normally" done. It was done by Mayo staff in my case. Specifically, they said: "A re-map of the left
atrium was conducted and all four pulmonary veins were found to be acutely isolated with entrance block. We then performed atrial extrastimuli testing with single, double and triple (600 & 400 millisecond drive down to 200 msec) and atrial burst pacing and no atrial flutters/fibrillation was induced. We concluded the procedure here." I believe it is just all part of the "cure". If they had been able to induce AFib, I would imagine that they would have tried something more. Better to get if fixed right, I believe.
I can understand your concerns. It's an interesting concept to treat an action when it's actually happened instead of continuously especially with the side effects of continuous anticoagulation and the risk of bleeds. But even wearing an Apple watch or Fitbit are not guaranteed methods of picking up every single episode a person may have.
Seems like the more we learn the more we have left to learn.
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2 ReactionsI agree. I track my afib through my apple watch. I take an ecg every day. My afib usually lasts for one or two days and then returns to sinus for a week or two. Although I was low risk, I had a major stroke in early January. According to my apple watch I was in AFIB on DEC 31 for one day. My stroke was on Jan 2. I wasn't on Eliquis then, but I sure am now.
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2 ReactionsI am a 79 year old female who had an ablation March 4/25. After it my cardiologist put a three day holter on me and then said I no longer have AFib. So far so good and I will be tested again in July. I’m still on my blood thinner Xarelto but have stopped my beta blocker Sotolol. The surgeon is also going to phone me in July to see how things are going. I will ask about the blood thinner and see if I’m to continue on it for life. I’m really hoping I won’t need a second ablation.