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Baltimore, MD
FAQs A-Fib Ablations: Mitral Valve
Catheter Ablation
“I have a defective Mitral Valve. Is it causing my A-Fib? Should I have my Mitral Valve fixed first before I have a PVA?”
Mitral Valve problems seem to be related to A-Fib, possibly because the extra strain a defective Mitral Valve puts on the heart may cause stretching and put extra pressure on the Pulmonary Vein openings where most A-Fib originates. However, fixing your defective Mitral Valve isn’t a guarantee of curing A-Fib. Once the A-Fib hot spots in your heart have been activated, they may continue firing after your Mitral Valve is fixed.
If you have to have open heart surgery to fix your Mitral Valve, you may want to consider going to a medical center that can fix both your Mitral Valve and do a Cox Maze operation at the same time. But bear in mind the Cox Maze operation and its less invasive versions are pretty hard on the heart and body. (For more, see our Treatments page about Maze and Mini-Maze surgeries.)
If you want to get a PVA to get rid of your A-Fib, you may want to do it before you replace your Mitral Valve. Some doctors will not do a PVA if you have an artificial Mitral Valve, because of the risk of blood clots and the risk of damaging the artificial mitral valve.
Return to FAQ Catheter Ablations
Last updated: Monday, June 18, 2018
