Atrial Flutter

In atrial flutter, the electrical signal gets trapped in a loop running around the right atrium, causing it to beat at 300 beats per minute while the ventricles beat usually at 150 beats per minute. The abnormal tissue causing this rhythm problem is located near the bottom of the right atrium . This area is easy to reach with the ablation catheter but it may be thick and uneven, making it somewhat difficult to burn all the tissue necessary to eliminate the flutter. The success rate for a first attempt is in the order of 80-90%. The most important risk is the possibility of burning a hole in the heart wall in this region (less than 1%).

  
Atrial Flutter

It is also important to point out that people with atrial flutter can have more than one kind of flutter many have attacks of atrial fibrilllation also. In these cases, eliminating the atrial flutter may not reduce or eliminate atrial fibrillation attacks. The only way to know is the proceed with the atrial flutter ablation and observe what results afterwards. Patients who have continued problems with attacks of atrial fibrillation can be candidates for other types of ablation procedures.

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