Evaluation and Treatment for Atrial Fibrillation (AFib)

Medicines that may be used to treat atrial fibrillation include:

• Blood-thinning medicines to prevent blood clots and stroke.
• Rate control medicines to slow a rapid heartbeat.
• Rhythm control medicines to help your heart beat with a normal pattern.

Ablation is a treatment that burns or freezes small parts of the heart to create scar tissue. This scar tissue stops the abnormal electrical signals that cause atrial fibrillation.

The ablation procedure may use heat or cold to create the scar tissue. When cold temperatures are used, the procedure is called cryoablation.

During ablation, you will be mildly sedated. Your doctor will make a small incision (cut) in your groin and insert a thin, flexible tube (catheters) into a blood vessel. They will then feed the tube up to your heart. The tube will have small electrodes on the tip.

Your doctor will place the catheters on different areas of the heart and send electrical pulses through the catheter. The catheter then records the heart's signals to discover where the abnormal electrical signals are coming from.

Once your doctor finds where the abnormal signals are coming from, they will send heat or cold through the catheter tips. This forms scars on that area of the heart and stops the abnormal signals.

AV node ablation helps control your heart rate. It uses heat to create scar tissue on the part of the heart that connects the upper and lower chambers, called the AV node. This process stops the upper chambers of the heart from sending irregular electrical signals to the bottom chambers.

During electrical cardioversion, your doctor will give your heart a low-energy shock. This helps reset your heart to a normal rhythm. This treatment is usually only temporary.

AFib causes blood to pool in the left arterial appendage, a small pouch found in the top left of your heart. As blood pools in this appendage, blood cells can stick together and form a clot. This clot can eventually travel out of the heart to other areas throughout the body. If the clot cuts off blood flow to the brain, it can cause a stroke.

A left atrial appendage closure procedure treats AFib by decreasing the most serious side effect of the condition – stroke risk. The left arterial appendage is not necessary for your heart to work well. A device called the WATCHMAN™ Left Atrial Appendage Closure Implant can be placed in your heart. This device will permanently close off the appendage.

Learn about WATCHMAN and other structural heart procedures.

*WATCHMAN^TM is a registered trademark of Boston Scientific.

During an open heart maze procedure, a surgeon makes several small cuts in the upper part of your heart and stitches the cuts together.

This process creates scar tissue, which helps prevent the heart from sending electrical signals that cause atrial fibrillation. Your doctor may recommend this treatment if medicines and other less-invasive treatments do not work.

A pacemaker is a small device that your doctor inserts under the skin and attaches to the heart. It sends electrical signals to the heart to prevent slow heartbeats.

An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is similar to a pacemaker. The device attaches to the heart and sends low-energy shocks to reset it to a normal rhythm.

A subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator (S-ICD) is placed under the skin but isn't attached directly to the heart. The device works by sending low-energy shocks to your heart to reset it to a normal rhythm.