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Stanford Health Care

Cardiac Ablation

Our Approach to Ablation

For many people with atrial fibrillation (AFib) and certain other abnormal heart rates known as arrhythmias, medications do not work to reduce their symptoms. Cardiac ablation, a minimally invasive treatment, can successfully treat many arrhythmias, preventing serious complications such as sudden cardiac arrest.

Doctors at Stanford are at the forefront of research to improve cardiac ablation using the latest technologies. Our arrhythmia team is pioneering new ablation therapies that will lead to better outcomes for patients.

WHAT WE OFFER YOU FOR CARDIAC ABLATION

  • Active clinical research to advance new minimally invasive treatments such as cryoballoon ablation. Co-invented by our medical director, this procedure uses extreme cold to freeze arrhythmia-causing heart cells.
  • Leading expertise in FIRM ablation, a new technology for locating and treating the precise regions in your heart that cause arrhythmia. We were one of the first U.S. hospitals to offer this treatment.
  • Close collaboration with Stanford’s cardiac surgeons to develop a hybrid surgical-catheter ablation procedure for people with advanced AFib. A national clinical trial is currently underway.
     

INTERESTED IN AN ONLINE SECOND OPINION?

The Stanford Medicine Online Second Opinion program offers you easy access to our world-class doctors. It’s all done remotely, and you don’t have to visit our hospital or one of our clinics for this service. You don’t even need to leave home!

Visit our online second opinion page to learn more.

Make An Appointment

If you are a new patient and want to request and appointment or need help finding a doctor, please call 650-723-6459, Option 3.

If you are a returning patient, call 650-723-6459, Option 2, to request an appointment.

What Is Cardiac Ablation?

About Cardiac Ablation

This procedure treats certain arrhythmias and other structural heart conditions. An arrhythmia develops when the heart’s electrical impulses become uncoordinated, causing the heart to beat too slowly, too fast, or in an erratic way.

Cardiac ablation helps prevent arrhythmias by disrupting their electrical pathways, restoring a normal heartbeat. Our doctors start with a catheter-based test, an electrophysiology (EP) study, to evaluate your heart’s electrical activity and pinpoint the areas for ablation.

If you are having a catheter ablation, we perform the study and the ablation during the same procedure. Our electrophysiologists:

  • Insert catheters (thin, flexible tubes) with electrode tips through a blood vessel in your groin (upper thigh), arm, or neck
  • Guide the catheters through your blood vessels into your heart
  • Send tiny electrical pulses to make your heart beat at different rates and to map the areas in your heart that cause arrhythmia
  • Use either heat energy, extreme cold or a chemical substance (depending on the type of ablation) to treat tiny areas of tissue and restore a regular heart rhythm

Cardiac ablation may be right for you if:

  • Medications for arrhythmia either did not work or caused serious side effects
  • The arrhythmia increases your risk of life-threatening complications, including sudden cardiac arrest

Our Clinics

Cardiac Arrhythmia Service

Our experienced electrophysiologists provide superior care with a compassionate touch for people with all types of arrhythmias.

Our team includes experts from several heart specialties with decades of experience in patient-centered care.

View All Locations