Radiofrequency Ablation

More than 3 million people across the U.S. suffer from cardiac arrhythmias each year. This problem occurs when the rate or rhythm of your heartbeat is off. In some cases, there are no symptoms at all, but others may experience a fluttering in the chest, pain, fainting, or dizziness. Depending on the severity of your situation, you may require a medical procedure, like Radiofrequency Ablation, to correct this problem. Radiofrequency Ablation is commonly used to treat cardiac arrhythmias. It’s used to help put your heart back into a normal rhythm. When choosing to receive this procedure, your doctor will use thin wires that are placed into the arm or leg. One wire is used to find the problem area within the heart, while the other uses heat to help burn away the tissue in the problem area of the heart that is causing the irregular heartbeats.

What to expect

The RFA procedure usually takes anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes, and typically you will be allowed to return home that same day. Immediately after the procedure, you will likely need to take a few minutes to an hour to recover, depending on whether or not sedation was used. While in recovery, your doctor will continue to monitor all vital signs as well.

Depending on where you received RFA treatment, you may experience a superficial burning pain with hypersensitivity. It can be described as a similar feeling to sunburn. Aside from that, you may feel slight numbness in the skin in that same area.