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Question:
Is it normal to have a racing heart rhythm after an ablation for atrial flutter?
Hi. I have heart arrhythmia and arterial flutter. I have already had a cardiac ablation that was said to have gone very well but I am back in the ER again with my heart racing and having to be shocked back into rhythm again. Are my doctors diagnosing everything right?
submitted by Karen from Waco on 11/5/2015
Answer:
by Texas Heart Institute cardiologist, J. Alberto Lopez, MD
Whereas ablation for atrial flutter should have a 95 to 98 % success rate, it depends on who is doing it. Experience matters. Also, 60 % of patients with atrial flutter will have or already have atrial fibrillation. Symptoms are similar, but treatment is very different.
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Updated November 2015