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FINDING A DOCTOR
When your regular doctor first
suspects you have A-Fib, he/she will probably send you to a Cardiologist, a
doctor who specializes in the heart. The Cardiologist will probably put you on
different medications over the next six months to a year to see if any of these
medications will stop or control your A-Fib. This may not be the best option for
you. Current A-Fib medications are
not very effective and often have bad side effects. And, time is of the essence
in treating A-Fib. The longer you wait, the more your A-Fib may "remodel" your
heart (change it physically and electrically).
Instead of a Cardiologist, you should
consider seeing an Electrophysiologist, a doctor who specializes in the
electrical activity of the heart and in the diagnosis and treatment of heart
rhythm disorders. It's easy to find a local Electrophysiologist yourself. The
Web site of the Heart Rhythm
Society Web site has a feature
called
Finding A Heart Rhythm
Specialist. When you type in your city and state, the site gives you a list of
Electrophysiologists in your area.
However, not all Electrophysiologists perform and have
sufficient experience in Pulmonary Vein
Ablation. See the sections on Questions For Doctors and
Facilities performing Pulmonary Vein Ablation to help find the right
Electrophysiologist for you. (The reason not all heart centers and
Electrophysiologists perform Pulmonary Vein
Ablation is that this is a relatively new procedure.)
Even better if you're willing to travel, you may want to
consider the most well known centers in the US that have the most experience in
performing Pulmonary Vein Ablations (Isolations). In this author's opinion they
are:
the Cleveland Clinic
Foundation, Johns Hopkins Un.
Electrophysiology Service,
Massachusetts
General Hospital, the Mayo Clinic
(Rochester, MN),
the Ohio State University
(formerly associated with Riverside Methodist Hospital),
the University of
Alabama at Birmingham,
the
University of Michigan, or
the University of Pennsylvania. The author has no ties to these facilities
and has not visited their facilities nor been treated by their staff. See
Facilities.
However, in this author's opinion, there is no first and
second tier of A-Fib doctors. In general, Electrophysiologists performing
Pulmonary Vein Ablation (Isolation) are highly trained, experienced and
technically gifted. Your chances of being cured by a PVA(I) are very good at
most A-Fib medical centers.
For insurance or liability reasons, many Electrophysiologists
today may not perform a Pulmonary Vein Ablation
unless you have been on at least two different medications without success in
curing your A-Fib. (But see Calkins:
catheter ablation approved as
first line therapy for A-Fib patients.)
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(Last updated 7/11/08)