Video Categories: Patient Benefits, Quality of Life, AATS
163 YouTube Views - Published July 30, 2020
Featured Speaker: Dr. Isaac George
Video Overview
Watch Dr. Isaac George as he discusses measures pertaining to quality of life that express unique rewards that are a result of a successful surgical ablation procedure.
Video Transcript
For the hearing impaired members of the AFibSurgeons.org community, we have provided a written transcript below:
Isaac George: At the end of the day, we are doing things to make people feel better. If you’re a patient, all of these slides don’t really mean anything. What it means to a patient is actually the most important thing.
If you’re a patient, you want to ask yourself, what does it mean to me? One, you’re going to live longer with ablation. At the end of the day, if we look at the sum of the studies, you’re going to live longer. There’s a survival benefit.
Looking at some of the data specifically from CASTLE-AF, the death rate is 13% versus 25%. That’s a real difference. You’ll stay out of the hospital; hospital admissions and readmissions are much less after an ablation. That’s certainly a worthy value and point for anybody.
Your heart will pump stronger. Your ejection fraction consistently goes up after ablation for many different reasons: filling, contractility. EF improves at a minimum of 8% in general for people as opposed to staying the same.
You will walk faster and feel better. Six-minute walk times improved – or walk distances improved by almost 50 meters. You’re going to be able to do the things that you like to do and do them better.
You may get off Coumadin. If you do get off Coumadin, you’re going to bleed less. I think we know all of the issues associated with Coumadin. In and of itself, getting people off of Coumadin is maybe the strongest reason that people want to have their ablation treated.
