Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation & Atrial Flutter

Heart rhythm is regulated by electrical signals that tell the heart how fast to beat based on the body’s energy needs. AFib or atrial flutter causes the heart to deliver the wrong signals. As a result, it beats erratically and too fast.

Catheter ablation aims to silence the heart tissue that is sending the wrong messages, allowing the correct signals to be received and normal heart rhythm to resume.

Catheter ablation begins with your doctor inserting a long, thin catheter into a vein in the groin. Your doctor carefully guides the catheter to the heart’s upper chambers using precision-guided imaging and three-dimensional integrated mapping systems.

After the catheter reaches the heart, your doctor conducts an electrophysiology study. Thin, flexible, electrically sensitive wires are used to measure and map the electrical activity of the heart and pinpoint which areas are creating the problematic signals. Ablation is then used to stop those signals from occurring.

The muscles around the pulmonary veins, which carry oxygenated blood from the lungs to the heart, are often ablated, because this is a common source of arrhythmias. The veins themselves are not ablated.

After the ablation is complete, our doctors use an advanced vascular closure system at the insertion site that allows you to start walking soon after surgery, which reduces the length of your hospital stay. Recovery is different for everyone and can range from a few hours to overnight.

Laboratory research from the Heart Rhythm Center has highlighted some of the factors contributing to the development of AFib. NYU Langone is a leading site in a national trial to test the use of a new catheter ablation technique to better manage these contributing factors and improve the outcomes of catheter ablation procedures. Your doctor can advise you on whether this clinical trial, known as Symplicity AF, may be right for you.

Your first follow-up visit occurs two to four weeks after an ablation. You meet with our nurse practitioner or physician assistant, who reviews your medications and talks with you about any symptoms you are experiencing. These may include fatigue, chest pain, groin discomfort, difficulty swallowing, coughing, or weight gain.

You may continue to feel the symptoms of arrhythmia for up to six weeks after the ablation, until the heart muscle fully heals. This is normal. However, if an arrhythmia lasts for more than 24 hours, or if you have any concerns, please contact your doctor for an evaluation.

You receive a surveillance monitor, which you wear for the prescribed amount of time—it varies depending on the device you receive. Three to six months after the procedure, when your heart has fully healed, you see your electrophysiologist, who reviews the data from the surveillance monitor to determine how your heart has responded to treatment. Your doctor may change or stop some of your medications at this time.