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Has anyone had more than one ablation for PVC’s?
I had an ablation in December and my Dr said that the area is extremely close to the valves and he was afraid if he continued it would mess them up. I’ve tried every medication he could think of and nothing has helped. He has scheduled me for another ablation on September 4th. I had a pretty rough recovery with the first one. I’m wondering if you’ve had more than one ablation was the recovery about the same for you, better, or worse? This morning I woke up with so much pressure on my chest and nausea. I went to the ER and all of my testing came back normal. The only thing the Dr mentioned was I was having so many PVC’s they were causing the issue. The whole time I was there I kept setting the alarm off on the machine because I was having so many PVC’s. I’ve never experienced pain with them before until today, but I’ve always been able to feel them though. It started close to 5:00 am and it’s after midnight and I’ve had the pain on and off all day. Has anyone else had this happen? This just really scared me because it’s never happened and it scared my daughter to death.
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I have had 4 ablations for PVCs. Mine were coming from 11 sites. The first procedure took care of one, and the EP decided I needed another provider. The second guy did a thorough mapping and eliminated 3 sites. This EP then planned to use a stereotaxis system to help with mapping. The X-ray component failed during this third procedure, so we did not get very far. I had the fourth procedure at Mayo in Phoenix in early June. My Medtronic loop device shows no PVCs. Will be back at Mayo in October for a full review. We learned a lot, and seem to have a good outcome.
I had to switch health insurance to get to Mayo, but I believe it was worth it.
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3 Reactions@swans
Wow, 4 ablations for PVCs! I have had all my heart issues monitored by Mayo Phx as well, for me since 17. Ablation for Afib in 19 that was successful; mitral valve repair in 21; now PVCs for the past three years that I have checked every year via a Holter, Echo, stress test and other usual stuff. My EP (Dr Srivasthen) is hesitant to perform a PVC ablation because similar to what was said by the first poster on this thread, my PVCs are coming from a point very close to the mitral valve that was repaired. Dr Sri said there was about a 15% chance of damaging the mitral valve to a point I would have to have a full replacement done so he has told me that not until I become very symptomatic should I consider it. Thing is, I have not been very symptomatic - I feel the PVCs when I take my pulse even though my Holters have shown I am over 30% for frequency. Sri says when I feel like I can't or don't wish to get out of bed, that is when the PVC Ablation should be done. I certainly don't wish to wait until that happens because when I am symptomatic now, I feel real fatigue and moderate nausea that I hope doesn't get worse. While I am 75, I am fit and normally very active. Spoiled in other words, but grateful. May I ask from curiosity, what EP were you seeing before and which one did you switch to at Mayo Phx?
@addysmom419
Yes to answer your question. I have had 2 ablations and another one scheduled. I had an ablation on RV about 10 years ago and solved the issue with PVCs coming from that location.
Recently PVCs got drastically worse on LV along with tachycardia. Another ablation was ordered. EP (Mayo Jacksonville) found the LV location causing the high PVCs and ablated it. I had two other areas but the source was on the outside of heart muscle so could not ablate as was inside.
What I was told my my Mayo EP was to expect continued PVCs and short runs of VTAC as the heart is extremely irritated from the ablations. He said would take heart to calm down in 6-8 weeks. Well was not lucky at 6 weeks, lot of PVCs. At 8 weeks still was having them. Then at 9 weeks felt the PVCs drastically go down. The heart is very irritated from ablations. You just damaged a heart muscle.
My EP wants to do another Holter monitor and pinpoint the other two areas and do another ablation. At least this time will know what to expect.
My tachycardia is controlled with medication but when it does go up (it will beat a 140-150 BPM. I do get slight chest pain with minor pain down both arms. With knocking of wood as I typed this I have not had any episodes for over a week now.
Asked your EP if the amount of PVCs you are having is causing the chest pain. If it causing a high BPM pulse you could (not a medical professional) be feeling what I feel when mine goes up to 140/150.