Information Prior to an Arrhythmia Ablation Procedure

Questions regarding your upcoming ablation procedure should be directed to our Cardiac Electrophysiology office at: 706-721-6660 or 706-721-7815.  All Faxes should be directed the Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology at Fax number 706-721-0347.

Prior to an ablation procedure, your electrophysiologist will commonly desire that you undergo an echocardiogram (an ultrasound of the heart) either at our office or at your referring physician’s offices.  We do not need the actual echocardiography images; however, we do request that a copy of your echocardiogram report performed by your referring doctor be faxed to us at 706-721-0347. 

Additionally, we commonly request that stress tests be performed prior to ablations in an effort to exclude significant heart disease prior to an ablation procedure.  These as well can be performed by your referring cardiologist with the test results faxed to our office at 706-721-0347.

For complex ablation procedures we may request a CAT scan of your heart using a 64 slice CT scanner.  We routinely request this prior to atrial fibrillation ablation procedures; however, for patients with prior heart surgery or congenital heart disease we may request this procedure as well.  Images must be stored on a compact disc (CD) in DICOM-3 format and sent to us.  We then use the images generated by the CAT scan to integrate images of your heart directly into our cardiac mapping systems permitting accurate definition of cardiac anatomy during arrhythmia ablation procedures.  Questions regarding CAT scans of your heart prior to your ablation procedure should be directed to Adam Berman, M.D. at: 706-721-7815. 

Prior to your ablation procedure, we will ask you to be evaluated by our anesthesiologists here at the Medical College of Georgia.  We commonly collaborate with the cardiovascular anesthesiologists here at MCG to ensure that your ablation procedure is as comfortable as possible.  This may require either deep conscious sedation, or general anesthesia should the length of the procedure or its level of complexity warrant it.  You will be contacted by our office to schedule an appointment with the anesthesiologist as an outpatient prior to the procedure. 

If you take Coumadin, your Coumadin will need to be discontinued prior to the procedure for five days.  Additionally, you may require bridging therapy with subcutaneous enoxaparin (Lovenoxä) blood thinner shots prior to your ablation procedure.  We will discuss bridging therapy with you in detail prior to your ablation procedure.  Questions regarding anticoagulation with Coumadin, enoxaparin (Lovenoxä), or bleeding concerns should be directed to our office at 706-721-6660.  Additionally, we may ask you to discontinue certain medications prior to your procedure.  Typically, we request that you discontinue medications such as beta blockers, Digoxin, calcium channel blockers, and antiarrhythmic drugs several days prior to your procedure in order to facilitate or enhance arrhythmia induction.  You will be directed by our office when to discontinue these medications and when you may resume them after your procedure.

You will be asked to perform a strict fast with nothing by mouth after midnight, the night before your ablation procedure.  You may be able to take certain medications (for example diabetic pills) as directed by your electrophysiologist.

Information about your Procedure

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