I had an ablation done on my heart about 10 years ago for Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs). The electrophysicist ran a catheter from my groin up into my heart and basically cauterized the exact location that was the source of the PVCs. He used both cold and heat to do the job. It was resoundingly successful.
Magnificent!
Thanks for the explanation.
Bump
My partner had ablation for Tachycardia attacks. I think it was similar to what you described, except I had the impression something would be scraped off the source area of his heart. We drove to the hospital early in the morning, they operated around noon, and I drove us home around 5 pm. His first attack occurred around 15 years ago at age 65, and scared me very badly. I had lost my husband 3 years earlier. I researched the situation and added calcium and magnesium to his supplements in the proper 2 parts to 1 ratio. He did not have another episode for a number of years. The day of the ablation, I spoke with the doctors there and they said maintaining the cal/mag ratio was important and he should continue with his supplements.
A few years ago he began to have occasional short episodes of Tachy, but then they started to get worse and last longer, finally 9 hours at 165 beats per minute. That is when he finally went to the doctor about it. I also found out he had been taking a lot of calcium based antacid for Gurd (stomach upset), so we readjusted his regular supplenments to offset this new calcium source. He had no further bad episodes, and went ahead with ablation 2 years ago, no symptoms since. Also, he now takes and monitors his own calcium and magnesium supplements, while I make packets of the other supplements for his daily use.
Potassium is another mineral that can also be of importance in heart matters. Many, many years ago one of my first jobs was working in a laboratory where some of the original work on calcium, magnesium, and potassium was being done in relationship to heart disease.