What is radio frequency catheter ablation?
Uses of radio frequency catheter ablation Radio frequency catheter ablation is a medical treatment that uses electrical energy to destroy – or ablate – tissues in the heart that are causing rhythm disturbances. As well as being used to treat Wolff Parkinson White syndrome, the procedure might also used for treating supraventricular tachycardia (SVT – the condition Tony Blair was recently treated for); atrial flutter; atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT); unifocal atrial tachycardia; atrial fibrillation; ventricular tachycardia (VT); symptomatic monomorphic VT; and AV junction ablation for poorly controlled ventricular rates (usually as a secondary choice if drugs do not work). In some cases the procedure might also be used on patients displaying symptomatic drug-refractory idiopathic sinus tachycardia, and junctional ectopic tachycardia.
