Good Samaritan Hospital
Heart & Vascular Center
375 Dixmyth Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45220
(513) 862-3588
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Atrial Fibrillation Treatment Options
If you are experiencing atrial fibrillation (a-fib), intermittently or all the time, you need to know that you have treatment options besides taking medications every day for the rest of your life. Those options might include catheter ablation or minimally invasive Maze surgery, but first you must talk to you doctor and understand your condition. While a-fib may not be life-threatening, it can be life-limiting. It also can increase your risk for stroke and congestive heart failure.
At Good Samaritan Hospital, cardiologists who specialize in arrhythmia collaborate with cardiac surgeons to offer the widest range of treatment options with the most promising outcomes. Read about their successes.
Catheter ablation
Catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation, also known as pulmonary vein isolation or left atrial compartmentalization, provides an alternative to a lifetime of medications and associated costs and side effects for patients with atrial fibrillation. At Good Samaritan, with just one tiny incision in the groin, the physician uses a catheter guided by a magnet to deliver radiofrequency energy to the heart. This causes scarring that eliminates the arrhythmia. Advanced mapping systems allow the physician to literally see the inside the heart in real-time and in 3-D as they perform the procedure.
The procedure is performed in about three to four hours, followed by an overnight hospital stay. Most patients resume normal activities within a few days. The majority of patients receive immediate relief from a-fib; for some, improvement in symptoms comes over the next few weeks or months.
Good Samaritan Hospital was the first hospital in the area to perform a-fib ablations and since 2004 has performed more than 150 procedures - more than any other program in the region - with an 80 percent long-term success rate. Good Samaritan also is the only hospital in the region utilizing Stereotaxis, which guides the catheter using magnet, providing dramatically increased precision and less risk of damage to healthy heart tissue.
Benefits of a-fib ablation include a high cure rate, quick recovery and only one incision.
Minimally invasive Maze surgery
Both robotic-assisted Maze and the mini-Maze provide alternative treatments for a-fib that are significantly less invasive then traditional open heart surgery. In this procedure, the physician operates on the heart through three tiny incisions, without cutting the breastbone, for a much quicker recovery than traditional heart surgery. The Maze procedure creates scars to stop the arrhythmia in a manner similar to the catheter procedure, but the scars are created under direct vision using a tiny camera that is placed inside the body. These minimally invasive options may be appropriate for patients for whom medication and ablation have not been successful. They are also an option for patients who require surgery for other reasons in addition to their a-fib.
The procedure takes two to three hours followed by a two to three day hospital stay. Most patients resume normal activities in a week or two. The majority of patients receive immediate relief from a-fib; for some, improvement in symptoms comes over the next few weeks or months.
Good Samaritan Hospital was the first and remains the only hospital in the area offering robotic-assisted Maze, and has performed 100s of minimally invasive Maze procedures since 2004 with a 90 percent success rate.
Questions to ask your physician
If you are considering your options for a procedure to cure your a-fib, talk to your physician. Here are some questions to ask:
- Why is this procedure the right one for me?
- How many of these procedures have you performed?
- How many has your team performed at this hospital?
- What is the success rate, and how was it measured?
- What are the risks of this procedure?
- How long does it the procedure take?
- How long will I be hospitalized?
- How long is the recovery period?
- Is this considered a cure for a-fib?
- How soon after the procedure will I feel some relief of my symptoms? Complete relief?
- Will I still have to take medications?
- Are there other procedures I ought to consider?
Learn more:
What is arrhythmia?
How is arrhythmia treated?
Who is treating arrhythmia?
For more information, contact us:
Good Samaritan Hospital Heart & Vascular Center
375 Dixmyth Ave.
Cincinnati, Ohio 45220
(513) 862-3588
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