Had another episode yesterday while playing tennis. I kept more careful observation this time. I felt weakness for 2 games and then felt normal again during a side change. Sweating profusely and difficulty concentrating. Faught through it and manage to win the set. I still don't have AliveCor and not sure if I had it, whether I would run over and strap it on under such circumstances. Iby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
After my initial post, I took a look at the staff at the Heart Hospital. From the description given by Dr. Lambiase, he has a focus on SCD and ICD implants and a generalist when it comes to ablation procedures. There is another EP there, Dr. Chow that onlly does ablations. My guess is that Dr Chow probably handles the most number and more complex ablation procedures. I wonder if there is a poby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi David, Glad you came out of the TIA - sounds like one to me. I am surprised that you were NOT on anti-coagulant before this and I think that is very important ASAP. The tacticath is a contact force catheter that is available in Europe and not in the USA yet. It is an excellent catheter from all reports and is actually used as the reference contact force catheter for other CF catheters thatby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Tom, sorry to hear of the recurrence. Like Shannon said, it is time to think about a touch up procedure. I also wonder like Shannon whether it is atypical atrial flutter on the left side rather than the right. If you recalled correctly and it was a right sided flutter that Dr H had difficulty with, it must have been at a very unusual location.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi All, Some of you probably saw the 60 minutes segment a while back regarding gender differences when it comes to drugs. The system for drug development and testing assumes no gender differences and that results from male subjects (animal and human models) are representative for all. I have been wondering what this means with respect to AAD and supplements. Maybe this is covered elsewhere onby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
I knew about this a while before it happened and forgot to mark it on my calendar Now that it is over, I wonder if anyone here can figure out how to get to the archived "live stream webcast" assuming it is archived somewhere in the cloud. The program was dominated by the Italians but the participants are who's who in EP and ablations, at least for the ones that had the time windoby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
A high majority of the clinical studies published in international journals come from Royal Adelaide so I think they handle the highest volume of cases there. That would probably be your best option. I think Perth's population density probably means that Royal Perth doesn't handle as many cases. You will have to confirm my guesses when you talk with them.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Barb, Best wishes for a procedure well done.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
PH - The top 2 experts in Germany are Kuck and Hindricks. The listing of leading world wide experts is shown on the authors listing in the HRS consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of AF available in the link below. I don't know how hard it will be to get them in the German specialty referral system.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Ken - I just did a quick review of their web site info on AF treatment and their approach is the surgical approach. Although it is done with minimally invasive laparoscopic tools now, it is still quite a bit more morbid than catheter ablation and success rate range is about the same as high volume catheter ablation centers. The latter is probably the better way to go.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
McHale, Glad to see you doing so well. Best wishes for continued NSR and good living.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
This is the first randomized study I have seen published in major journal and it shows very good results. The Smart touch catheter has been clear recently by the FDA for use in the USA. It has been available outside the US for at least several months and another one by Endosense called Tacticath has been available outside the US for a few years now.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Take care Shannon. We went through the same thing here from the San Diego fires last week for a couple of days when the NE wind died. I woke up one early morning wondering if the neighborhood hills were on fire with fine ashes settling.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Tana, read this recent thread and thisby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Follow up to Liz post regarding females having a harder time with AF treatment. Below is link to article in current issue of JAfib regarding gender differences in ablation outcomes and complications. Registration required and it is free.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Hi Dirk, A stands for antrum and SVC stands for superior vena cava. I am pretty sure your Munich EP follows similar guidelines to avoid PV stenosis. SVC ablation is standard.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Duke, I remember a poster here that had a Nademanee procedure but search did not bring it up. I just found it and the link is below. I don't know if he still reads the forum. Perhaps you can email him directly and see what his impression was and how well he is doing.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Duke, I can't think of anybody else with the breath and depth of experience and skill sets of Natale or Nademanee. It turns out that the Mission internal group that my doctor belongs to has an EP specialty within it and that Aseem Desai does around 400 AF ablations a year and 3/4 of all the AF ablations at St Joseph's Mission hospital (5 miles from me). That's a lot for somebodyby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Duke, I am in OC. Top 2 choices would be Natale at Scripps and Nademanee at Memorial. St Joseph's Mission Viejo hospital has busy AF clinical program but I am just starting to study them.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Phil, good to see you doing well. Best wishes for continued NSR, Shannon - Intermountain EP group has done a lot of ablations and has done really good research since they pretty much dominate the SLC area market and also because the population is relatively narrow in distribution when it comes to living healthy life style choices. The area is starting to change though as there are now manyby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks for the update. When Barb said flutter, my thought was "don't the EP usually ablate the CTI as part of the procedure?" LAA once again, that explains it.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Barb, Alivecor website has technical support and they were very good in replying to email questions. Email them about whether the 4S is supported.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
John, You are asking the right questions. Shannon and I figured that we need about 500 clones of Dr Natale to ablate all the cases in the USA. You mentioned not being able to afford someone in the caliber of Natale. Continue to pursue the highest volume centers and use that as a screen to check out the EPs available. There are many other high caliber ablationists out there spread throughout tby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
After Shannon's post with the data on 93,801 ablations/complications, I did some more reading to see what's going on with regards to differences between Cappato et al survey and the 93,801 data set. Probably deserves a separate topic. I am still trying to get a handle on the huge difference in mortality rate between Cappato's 0.1% vs 0.46% found in 93,801 data set. Without a douby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Thanks for the reference to an interesting paper.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Just remember a funny story from 2 weekends ago. My father in law, 92 now, never complained about his AF. I don't think he understood it beyond following the drug regiment that his VA doc put him on starting years ago. We only found out about it when my sister in law mentioned it in passing when explaining what the doctor said in an appointment long past when he had chest pains Anyway, hby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
That's an interesting conundrum. I don't know if what I had was an indication of AF or not. I haven't told anyone, not even my wife and I don't plan to until me and my doctor have it figured out. It may still be nothing. I don't want to stress myself out and not anybody else either. If it does come to a point where my doctor says I do have it and that I need to startby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
I hope AliveCor can develop a compatible version with something like the Samsung gear watch. A slimmer newer version is being released and looks like carriers will offer it for $50 (have to get the Galaxy 5s too) with a 2 yr contract. AliveCor needs to make a version compatible with all Android smart phones and tablets. I have a Nexus 7 tablet and AliveCor was none committal about whether it wby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
Here is actual paper - and another study for people with AFby researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM
The last Cappato world wide survey that focused on AF ablation indicated a mortality rate of 0.1%. There is a problem with the sampling (in my opinion) in that he didn't detect differences between low and high volume centers. The survey was/is voluntary and I wonder how well self reporting works especially at the low volume centers.by researcher - AFIBBERS FORUM