catheter ablation

Imagine a faulty wire in a house causing the lights to flicker; an electrician finds the exact spot and seals it off so the short circuit can no longer spread. Catheter ablation does this in the heart: it locates the small patch of tissue that triggers or sustains an abnormal rhythm and neutralizes it, restoring a normal beat.

Thin catheters are threaded through veins into the heart, where they map the electrical signals to pinpoint the culprit area. The tip then delivers energy — usually heat from radiofrequency current, intense cold (cryoablation), or newer pulsed electric fields — to create a tiny, precise scar. Because scar tissue does not conduct electricity, it blocks or eliminates the faulty circuit driving the arrhythmia.

Ablation treats many rhythm disorders, including supraventricular tachycardias, atrial flutter, atrial fibrillation, and some ventricular tachycardias and accessory-pathway conditions such as Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome. Success varies by arrhythmia: some are cured in a single procedure, while atrial fibrillation may need repeat sessions, and there are small risks from working inside the heart.