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Why it's done
By Mayo Clinic staffWhen your heart beats, the electrical impulses that cause it to contract must follow a precise pathway through your heart. Any interruption in these impulses can cause an abnormal heartbeat (arrhythmia), which can be treated with ablation.
Ablation isn't usually your first treatment option. Ablation is a treatment option for people who:
- Have tried medications to treat an arrhythmia without success
- Have had serious side effects from medications to treat arrhythmias
- Have certain types of arrhythmias that respond well to ablation, such as Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome
- Have a high risk of complications from their arrhythmia, such as sudden cardiac arrest
- Catheter ablation. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/ablation/ablation_all.html. Accessed March 24, 2009.
- Arnsdorf MF, et al. Catheter ablation for ventricular arrhythmias. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 24, 2009.
- Cheng J, et al. Radiofrequency catheter ablation to prevent recurrent atrial fibrillation. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 24, 2009.
- Ganz LI. Catheter ablation of cardiac ablation: Overview and technical aspects. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed March 24, 2009.
- Ablation. American Heart Association. http://americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=6. Accessed June 1, 2009.
