Hi all…what is the success rate 5 yrs and beyond for dr Natalie…no fib..thank you

I don't know if accurate and up-to-date information of that nature is available, but so many have gone to him and reported success that it must be north of 80%

One thing to be aware of is that a very high percentage (75%?) of his caseload are "tough" cases and "fixing" those whose issues could not be solved by other EP's. Point being, is that even if his success percentage is equivalent to others, he's working much tougher cases. See this thread for Carey's story for an example: [www.afibbers.org]

I'll give an example where I have first hand knowledge. A friend contacted me about his friend who'd been diagnosed by 3 local EP's with vfib. At least one of these EP's was from a very well respected university teaching hospital. They had him in a "shocker vest." Basically a wearable external defibrillator, in case he went into vfib. They told him there was no procedure that could solve his problem and offered a few meds.

I put him in contact with moderator Shannon, who put him in contact with Dr. Natale. Because of the seriousness of vfib, Natale saw the guy in two weeks. 1) Natale said the issue was not vfib, but another ventricular issue. 2) Natale ablated him and solved the problem (I don't know procedural details). The patient was absolutely amazed (we met face to face for the first time two months after the procedure). Not long after the procedure, he was back to riding his bike to work with no issues. This was over six years ago and the patient recently contacted me to tell me everything was still good and thanking me profusely for facilitating contact with Dr. N.

wonderful story...wish all were..thank u...reason i ask is that wolf mini maze aserts 95%...long term no fib...thats with many persistent ...but true who u take on skews it...thanks

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Dovewing
wonderful story...wish all were..thank u...reason i ask is that wolf mini maze aserts 95%...long term no fib...thats with many persistent ...but true who u take on skews it...thanks

Yes, and people are using different parameters, not taking into account things like whether it is a simple first time PVI ablation or someone who is long-term persistent with multiple ablations behind them. Or, is it tallying up after a second ablation or only the index? The stats are usually for no arrhythmias for 1 year after the ablation and I have heard Natale's given as about 90%--perhaps someone can verify that. As a Natale patient myself, I am one year out and very happy. The quality of followup is also excellent. You have a dedicated nurse navigator and NP that you can contact at any time and they have always responded within a day--often with a phone call. You send them a Kardia strip once a week, periodically wear a monitor etc. There isn't a single thing I could have criticized. That said, there are some whose ablations need one or more touchups, a small percentage who have complications, but Natale is extremely cautious about safety, though he will do whatever is necessary to get to the root of arrhythmias.

I have an unpublished paper written in 2017 by Natale et al. at Texas Cardiac Arrhythmia Center. In that paper they describe a study they did on patients who had come to them after failing two or more ablations elsewhere. (Anecdotally, the prize winner was a guy who had had 7 ablations, all at UCLA, and all 7 had failed.) There were 305 patients, so it was a reasonably good sample size. They achieved a 90% success rate, defined as being free from all atrial arrhythmias without the use of antiarrhythmic drugs 1 year after the procedure.

Since this study was composed entirely of difficult cases, I'd say that indicates his success rate with index ablations must be well over 90%.

As for 5-year success rates, I doubt they would be much different than 1-year success rates. A successful ablation tends to be permanent. Reoccurrence of afib is usually due to new sources of afib arising rather than the ablation failing years later. They just don't do that.

very interesting Carey...thanks for sharing

How many future ablations are done and needed of those 10% (using a top tier EP) that are not successful after the index before they are deemed successful and finally reach their 1 year afib free mark?

I had my second ablation with Dr Natale in Austin with Shannon on March 1, 2016. all quiet on the western front.
I did have a Tachy episode in 2020 of about 110 BPM that lasted 2-3 days after some very extreme stress.
I self converted after I left the ER after I was scheduled to return for a cardio-version a few days later.

McHale

so glad or you....Doctor Natale use all that high tech mapping software exactly where the a fib impulses are coming from?