Walking Hours After AFib Surgery! - Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.

ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — It is expected within the next 20 years that 20-60 million people will get atrial fibrillation, usually just called AFib. People with AFib have a five-times increased risk of stroke compared to people without it, and the strokes can be more severe than strokes from other causes. Also, the stroke risks are still present whether or not you have symptoms! The current treatments include medication and ablations … but those can damage other heart tissues and have a long recovery. AFib Surgery

Kroy Crofoot has been working with furniture for over 40 years.

“You know, I don’t like sitting in an office,” he told Ivanhoe.

But one visit to the cardiologist changed everything.

“We did the test and he came back and told Kelly, ‘Hey, you’re fine.’ And looked at me and said, ‘Kroy, you’re in AFib,’” Kroy recalled.

Kroy had no noticeable symptoms prior to his diagnosis, so his reaction?

“What’s AFib?” he said with a laugh.

It is the most common heart condition in the world, and yet most people don’t know they have it!

“If you get palpitations, it could be that you had too much caffeine, you take some medication that could do it, you had an excess of alcohol,” described Naushad Shaik, MD, Electrophysiologist and EP Medical Director for the AdventHealth Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute.

For most people treatment involves medications, then cardioversion therapy or cardiac ablation. After electric shocks didn’t work for Kroy for longer than three to four days, Dr. Shaik recommended a new treatment called pulse field ablation.

“I’m also otherwise known as the electrician. We are able to do this ablation without damaging the other tissues of the heart. So, you’re specifically cauterizing with this energy, tissues around the atrium,” explained Dr. Shaik.

Radiofrequency and cryoablation both require the patient to stay overnight after the procedure, and the heart doesn’t heal for three months. But for Kroy, who had PFA, he went home the same day and within a week was back to his normal active lifestyle.

“The next day went back to work and, you know, besides not being able to lift much, I was, felt a hundred percent,” said Kroy.

And that made Dr. Shaik and Kroy both happy!

Since PFA became available in the U.S. early last year, Dr. Shaik has done over 600 cases. He wants patients to know that no two cases of AFib are the same, and the treatment should be tailored to you by your doctor.

Contributors to this news report include: Marcy Wilder, Associate Producer; Chuck Bennethum, Videographer & Editor.

Sources:

https://www.notimetowait.com/afib-explained

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/atrial-fibrillation/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20350630

https://www.fixafib.com/blog/afib-procedure/how-long-does-it-take-to-recover-from-afib-ablation/

https://www.healthline.com/health/heart/how-long-to-heal-after-heart-ablation

* For More Information, Contact: Naushad Shaik, MD

Electrophysiologist and EP Medical Director for the AdventHealth Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute

nshaik@cvadrs.com

(407) 931-5040

and

Tiffany Cahill