In general if complications do occur they will be identified at the time of the procedure and treated accordingly.įollowing an ablation for atrial flutter it is important to continue to maintain good cardiovascular health to reduce the chances of developing other heart rhythms problems (such as atrial fibrillation or AF) in to the future. The risks with an atrial flutter ablation can include a 1:1000 risk of a potentially serious complication such as a heart attack or stroke, a 1:500 risk of bleeding around the heart requiring drainage (a needle passed below the rib cage to drain blood) and the risk of requiring a permanent pacemaker is 1:600. A short ablation line is created between the tricuspid valve and the inferior vena cava on the right side of the heart to interrupt this circuit (shown in the second picture below). An Atrial Flutter AblationĪn atrial flutter ablation will generally take around 1 hour and patients can either be given ‘twilight sedation’ to keep them comfortable or a general anaesthetic. Some patients may have both atrial flutter and a related rhythm called atrial fibrillation (AF) at different times (see the section on 'Atrial Fibrillation'). This is because the success rates with atrial flutter ablation are ≥95% with a single procedure (substantially more effective than medications). In patients with symptoms from atrial flutter an ablation procedure is considered first line treatment. For this reason an anticoagulant or ‘blood thinner’ is often recommended to reduce the risk of blood clots and stroke. In atrial flutter the top chambers of the heart beat so quickly that they do not effectively pump blood and blood clots can develop. Symptoms and TreatmentĪtrial flutter may cause a persons heart rate to be increased (tachycardia) and can lead to symptoms such as palpitations (the sometimes unpleasant awareness of a persons heart beat), shortness of breath, dizziness, chest pain or sometimes lethargy. This causes the atria (the hearts upper chambers) to beat at around 300 beats per minute and commonly every second impulse travels down to the ventricles to cause a heart rate of 150 beats per minute (medications may be used to slow these heart rates down). Atrial flutter is a short circuit where electrical activity travels in a continuous loop around the tricuspid valve/annulus on the right hand side of the heart.
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