Wondering how cardiac ablation procedures impact life expectancy? This post will describe what cardiac ablation surgery entails, explain how serious this common heart arrhythmia treatment is, and finally, address the central question based on the most up-to-date scientific data.
What Is Cardiac Ablation?
Before we get into the nitty gritty of how cardiac ablation impacts health, let’s establish a clear definition of the term.
Cardiac ablation is a procedure to correct heart arrhythmias (i.e., irregularities in one’s heartbeat). It uses energy (derived from either heat or cold) to intentionally create scars in the heart tissue that block abnormal electrical signals, thereby putting a stop to the patient’s abnormal heart rhythms.
Cardiac ablation can be used to treat several different kinds of heart arrhythmias:
- Atrial flutter: When the atria (upper chambers) of your heart pump blood too quickly, resulting in an elevated heart rate and increasing risk of strokes and blood clots
- Atrial fibrillation (or Afib): When the atria of the heart pump irregularly, reducing the heart’s ability to pump blood correctly and, again, increasing the risk of blood clots and strokes
- Ventricular tachycardia: When the ventricles (lower chambers) of the heart have an arrhythmia that causes them to beat too quickly, leading to unhealthily low blood pressure
- Supreventricular tachycardia: When the heart pumps blood normally, but sometimes reaches up to 300 beats per minute, eventually causing heart damage and other health problems
Types of Cardiac Ablation
There are two main types of cardiac ablation:
- Catheter ablation: This is a non-surgical form of cardiac ablation in which a doctor inserts a catheter (a narrow tube) into a blood vessel and guides it toward the heart. The doctor uses this catheter to scar the section(s) of heart tissue causing the arrhythmia, normalizing the heartbeat.
- Surgical ablation: This type of ablation requires a surgeon to cut open the chest and create scar tissue to block the signals causing arrhythmias. The surgeon can do this during open heart surgery (this is known as a maze procedure). For those not undergoing open heart surgery for another condition, the surgeon can also do so less invasively, using a camera or small robot inserted through small cuts between the ribs (this version of surgical ablation is called a mini maze).
How Many Ablations Can a Person Have?
It is common for those undergoing cardiac ablation to go through this heart arrhythmia medical procedure more than once. This is necessary when the first ablation fails to eradicate the source of all the misfiring electrical signals in the heart, or when additional complications arise after the first procedure.
According to Dr. Paul Friedman, Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic, “It is very reasonable to do two ablations; half of all people will have two. A third ablation is not unreasonable in the ideal candidate, a younger person who is highly symptomatic and a highly motivated person.”
Dr. Friedman adds that there are very few people for whom four or more ablations would be beneficial. Based on his expert opinion, it is fair to say that the typical limit is two to three ablations, depending on the patient’s health and the severity of their heart arrhythmia symptoms.
How Serious Is Cardiac Ablation?
The seriousness of cardiac ablation depends on the type of cardiac ablation you receive.
Because catheter ablation is non-surgical and minimally invasive, there is a low risk of complications, and the majority of patients can go home on the day of the procedure. Some patients may have to stay overnight, and most will be told not to submerge themselves in water for five days and to wait as long as two weeks to continue exercising/lifting heavy objects.
By contrast, surgical ablation (such as a maze procedure) is more invasive, and therefore more serious. In the case of a maze procedure, the patient typically needs to spend several days in the ICU and stay in the hospital for a total of one week. Recovering fully from a maze procedure can take as long as two months.
What Is the Life Expectancy After Cardiac Ablation?
Unfortunately, there is currently no data available about the effects of cardiac ablation on average life expectancy.
However, a 2019 study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that 0.46 percent of patients (that’s almost one in 200 patients) experienced early mortality after undergoing cardiac ablation. They defined “early mortality” as deaths occurring either during the patients’ inital admission or during their 30-day readmission.
Based on the most common causes of early mortality after cardiac ablation, the authors of this study argue for “prompt management of post-procedure complications and [congestive heart failure]” to reduce mortality rates after cardiac ablation.
Curious About Your Own Life Expectancy?
If reading this post sparked some curiosity about your own life expectancy, give the Life Expectancy Calculator a try. Created using the latest research and data, the calculator is highly accurate, helping to illuminate users’ current and future health status.
And if you’d like to gain even more fascinating insights into various aspects of life expectancy, be sure to keep checking our Life Lessons section for new posts on the subject!
