Posted by Bill Kilgore on November 11, 2003 at 09:58:15:
In Reply to: Lone A-Fib and a cure? posted by Steve Haluska on November 09, 2003 at 21:25:10:
Steve,
Although I have not been able to control the slow progression of a-fib through self-help remedies, it does make a great deal of sense to me to maintain a healthy heart in all other respects. A healthful diet and regular excercise and limitation of heart stimulants (caffeine and decongestants) might help one to avert other health problems and be fit for a procedure to cure atrial fibrillation, when the time comes for that. I am now two weeks post ablation performed by Dr. Natale and have had only one sixty-second period of heart irritability, so far. Most of the contributors to this web site have more funny beats in the post-procedure period of heart beat irritability, and that does not indicate failure of the procedure. My Houston electrophysiologist, Dr. John Seger, says the success rate for the PVI/ablation is 75%. CCF reports a success rate of around 80% and even as high as 95% among the sub-group who must return for a 'touch up'. I might add that my Doctor Seger qualified me for the ablation technique by asking me to wear a holter monitor once when I was off meds and frequently in and out of a fib. He wanted to see the onset of an episode on the EKG. Based upon his observations of how the episodes began, he concluded I was a likely candidate for the ablation. I think it is possible for the experts at Cleveland Clinic to help an individual decide which curative procedure is most likely to help one.
Best of luck,
Bill