Second Ablation

It depends on whom you ask but, for sure it should be the gap between the 'blanking-period-plus-confirmatory-Holter-monitor-assessment because that's how long it takes for the heart to calm and for the lesions to 'cure', and then for the Holter to show what's really going on post-op. So, I would say at least three full months....theoretically. Why do a second ablation if there's no further arrhythmia...per the Holter?

But, as is so often the case, it's not that simple. There is ample evidence that the odd patient has a truly awful and worrying blanking period, and the Holter shows a lot of PACs or flutter, but no more AF. Those mean yet a second ablation, but it doesn't have to happen right away. Maybe in a couple of months, depending on how the patient handles the new reality (IOW, how symptomatic he/she is). Instead, many patients find that by the time six months have passed, they suddenly realize they have no more arrhythmia, no symptoms, and their GP finds that their hearts are happily in normal sinus. What's changed?!? Time. They continued to heal, to calm, to begin to attend to, and to deal with, other life's issues, and meanwhile the healing slowly led the heart to where it was content to beat normally. This can go on even for as long as a full year.

In my case, my first ablation was very clearly a bust. I was in the local ER on the sixth day and had to be put on amiodarone for seven weeks to get my heart to calm and to beat normally. I probably would have been ablated about nine months later, or so it was looking, but the EP had a cancellation and they fit me in on the seventh month from my first failed ablation. Also, depending on how many practicing EPs you can get yourself to, and how busy of a caseload they have...maybe it might have to be a year. Maybe inside of four months if the cards all line up. So, context matters, the urgency matters, your symptoms matter, the local EP's office and caseload matters....these are all factors.