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YOUR PRACTICE WORKSPACE

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YOUR PRACTICE NAMEPFA guide · Understanding

START HERE

Your PFA ablation checklist

Keep this page with your medication plan and discharge instructions.

Before you arrive

  • Read the “Getting ready” section. Use the medicine and food-and-drink plans recorded there; blank lines must be completed by your team before you use them.
  • Complete the tests in your appointment instructions. Bring your current medicine list, identification and insurance information.
  • Arrange an adult to drive you home and stay with you the first night.

Procedure date / arrival time:

Facility / check-in location:

Before you leave the facility

  • Make sure you have your medication restart plan, wound-care and activity instructions, and follow-up appointment details.
  • Keep the “Your recovery” and “When to get help” sections available at home. Call 911 for the emergency symptoms listed there.

Follow-up date / location:

Practice phone: ____________________

After-hours number / route: ____________________

Keep the instructions together

Your personalized medication, anesthesia and discharge instructions take priority over general template wording. The team should record the current documents below and resolve any conflicting instructions before you leave.

Medication / anesthesia plan title and date:

Discharge instructions date:

UNDERSTANDING YOUR PROCEDURE

Your guide to
pulsed field ablation

For atrial fibrillation (AFib) · Before and after your procedure

Read this guide before your procedure. Keep it during recovery, especially the “When to get help” section. This guide describes pulsed field ablation (PFA), not every type of AFib ablation.

What is AFib, and why have an ablation?

AFib is an irregular, often fast heartbeat that starts in the upper chambers of the heart. It can cause palpitations, shortness of breath, tiredness, and difficulty doing your usual activities.

Many AFib triggers come from where the pulmonary veins—the veins bringing blood from the lungs—join the heart. Ablation creates small areas of treated tissue to block these signals. This is called pulmonary vein isolation. The goal is to reduce AFib episodes and improve symptoms and quality of life. Your team will explain why ablation is an option for you.

How is PFA different?

Other ablation methods use heat or cold. PFA uses brief electrical pulses that disrupt targeted heart-muscle cells, rather than heating or freezing them. It can limit injury to some nearby tissues, but it is not risk-free.

In a randomized study of people with intermittent (paroxysmal) AFib, PFA performed similarly to heat- or cold-based ablation at one year. Results vary with the type of AFib, the device, and your health. AFib can return, and some people need another procedure.

Benefits and risks

Possible benefits include fewer AFib episodes, better symptoms and quality of life, and sometimes less need for rhythm-control medication. These benefits are not guaranteed.

Risks include bleeding or blood-vessel injury in the groin; fluid around the heart that may need drainage; stroke or TIA; anesthesia-related complications; and, rarely, death. PFA-specific concerns include coronary artery spasm and red-blood-cell breakdown that can affect the kidneys. Studies have reported low rates of injury to the esophagus, pulmonary veins, and phrenic nerve, but that does not mean these risks are impossible. Your team will discuss your personal risks and alternatives before consent.

YOUR PRACTICE NAMEPFA guide · Preparation

Getting ready

Your blood thinner plan

Blood thinners help lower the risk of stroke around ablation. Do not stop, skip, or change a dose on your own. Use the medication-specific plan below. Before ablation, report any unplanned missed blood thinner doses to the EP team because this may change the need for clot-check imaging or the procedure date. A dose intentionally held under your written plan is not a missed dose.

Anticoagulation plan

Food and drink plan

SGLT2 medicines

GLP-1 receptor agonists

Other practice preparation instructions

Add other preparation instructions if needed.

Other medicines, tests, and arrangements

  • Use your written medication plan for rhythm/rate medicines, diabetes medicines, aspirin, and other blood thinners. Bring an up-to-date medication list.
  • You may need blood tests, an ECG, or imaging. A TEE (an ultrasound through the swallowing tube) or CT may be used to check for a clot. Complete the tests listed in your appointment instructions.
  • Use the food and drink plan above. A different personalized anesthesia instruction takes priority.
  • Do not drive yourself home after general anesthesia. Arrange an adult driver and someone to stay with you the first night.

On the day

The procedure takes place in an electrophysiology (EP) lab. You receive general anesthesia, so you are asleep during the procedure. Thin tubes called catheters enter through a vein in the groin and are guided to the heart. The doctor crosses between the upper chambers to reach the left atrium, then uses PFA to isolate the pulmonary veins. Additional areas may be ablated if needed, based on the findings during the procedure and your agreed treatment plan. IV blood thinner is given during the procedure.

Plan for several hours at the facility; your team will give you an estimate. The total visit includes preparation and recovery, not just the ablation.

YOUR PRACTICE NAMEPFA guide · Recovery

Your recovery

Before you go home

You will rest while staff check your groin sites, heart rhythm, and vital signs. Follow their instructions about lying flat and getting up. Many patients go home the same day; others stay overnight.

Take your blood thinner according to the restart plan provided at discharge. After AFib ablation, the usual U.S. recommendation is to continue anticoagulation for at least 3 months, and longer when your stroke risk warrants it. Do not stop at 3 months on your own or because your rhythm feels normal.

If you miss a blood thinner dose after discharge

These instructions apply after your prescribed restart time, not to doses deliberately held for the procedure. Your clinician can mark the applicable row below. Use only the line for your medicine. Do not take extra doses to catch up.

  • □ Apixaban (Eliquis): Take the missed dose as soon as you remember on the same day, then resume your twice-daily schedule. Do not double a dose.
  • □ Rivaroxaban (Xarelto), once-daily AF dose: Take it as soon as you remember that day, with food for the 15 mg or 20 mg dose. Resume your usual schedule the next day. Do not take two doses in one day. This is not the twice-daily blood-clot treatment regimen.
  • □ Dabigatran (Pradaxa): Take it only if at least 6 hours remain before your next scheduled dose. Otherwise skip it and take the next dose on schedule. Do not double.
  • □ Edoxaban (Savaysa): Take it as soon as you remember on the same day; return to your normal schedule the next day. Do not double.
  • □ Warfarin: Take the missed dose if you remember the same day. Do not double the next day. Notify your anticoagulation clinic and follow its INR plan.

For repeated missed doses, vomiting that prevents taking medicine, bleeding, or conflicting instructions, contact your team. Use emergency care for severe bleeding or stroke symptoms.

What you may notice

Tiredness, groin bruising or tenderness, and a sore throat after a breathing tube or TEE may occur. Mild chest discomfort can also occur, but do not assume new, worsening, or persistent symptoms are normal—use the warning-sign guidance.

Palpitations or AFib can happen during the early healing period and do not necessarily mean the procedure failed. Report persistent or concerning symptoms to your team. They may continue rhythm medicine and arrange monitoring.

Activity and follow-up

Use the routine recovery instructions below unless your discharge paperwork gives different limits. Do not drive while impaired by sedation or pain medicine; use the driving and return-to-work dates in your discharge paperwork.

Practice recovery instructions

Routine recovery instructions appear when the workspace loads.

Follow-up appointments

Routine follow-up instructions appear when the workspace loads.

Follow the medication and appointment details in your personalized discharge instructions.

YOUR PRACTICE NAMEPFA guide · Warning signs

When to get help

Call 911 for emergency symptoms

  • Sudden weakness or numbness, facial drooping, trouble speaking or understanding, sudden vision changes, or a severe sudden headache.
  • Severe or worsening chest pain, severe trouble breathing, fainting, or a very fast heartbeat with severe symptoms.
  • Heavy groin bleeding that does not stop with firm pressure, rapidly growing swelling, or a cold, pale, or numb leg.

Do not drive yourself if you may be having an emergency.

Seek urgent medical assessment

Get urgent help for new trouble or pain with swallowing, coughing up blood, worsening breathlessness, persistent near-fainting, or fever/chills with chest or swallowing symptoms. These matter even weeks after ablation. If symptoms are severe, call 911. Tell the treating team that you recently had heart ablation and when it occurred.

Contact your care team promptly

  • AFib, palpitations, or a fast/irregular pulse that does not settle or concerns you.
  • Fever, increasing groin swelling or pain, or chest discomfort that persists or changes.
  • Repeated missed blood thinner doses, inability to keep the medicine down or obtain it, or a missing or conflicting restart plan. For one missed dose after discharge, use the drug-specific instructions in this guide. Warfarin users should also notify their anticoagulation clinic.

If you cannot reach your team, use its after-hours route or seek urgent care. If you are unsure whether symptoms are an emergency, seek emergency help.

This is general education, not a replacement for your care team’s instructions or consent discussion. Follow your personalized plan, especially for blood thinners and fasting.

PatientReady · PFA guide · 18 Sep 2026
Evidence behind these instructionsAF ablation · PFA · For your practice’s review

These notes explain key original template defaults, not every sentence or your current custom wording. They do not automatically validate selected options, direct edits or older saved guides.

Basis labels distinguish guidelines, medication labeling, expert consensus and practice protocols; they are not evidence grades. A source-check date is not clinician approval or a guarantee that no newer evidence exists. Research was AI-assisted and primary-source checked; this is not independent clinical certification. No extra form completion is needed. This section does not print.

Food, drink and morning medicinesPractice protocol — not a universal guideline
Template default
Nothing to eat or drink after midnight; approved morning medicines with small sips of water.
Why this choice
Midnight is this template’s selected local cutoff, not an ASA requirement. ASA allows clear liquids until 2 hours before anesthesia in appropriate healthy elective patients.
Exceptions & limits
Longer fasting is not automatically safer. Anesthesia must set the appropriate plan for aspiration risk, diabetes, delayed gastric emptying and procedure timing. Insulin and other diabetes medicines need a separate plan.

Sources last checked:

SGLT2 medicinesDrug-label-based guidance
Template default
Hold empagliflozin, dapagliflozin and canagliflozin at least 3 days; ertugliflozin at least 4 days.
Why this choice
The differing intervals address perioperative ketoacidosis risk. ACC summarizes the FDA intervals; the linked ertugliflozin label also specifies restart after clinical stability and oral intake resume.
Exceptions & limits
Applies to scheduled surgery/prolonged fasting. Urgent procedures, suspected ketoacidosis, poor intake or dehydration need individualized management. Combination tablets must be identified.

Sources last checked:

GLP-1 medicinesMultisociety clinical guidance
Template default
Continue for patients assessed as low risk for delayed stomach emptying.
Why this choice
The 2024 guidance uses risk assessment rather than a blanket one-week hold. Stopping therapy also has metabolic and access consequences.
Exceptions & limits
Dose escalation, significant GI symptoms, higher doses and other causes of delayed gastric emptying may require a 24-hour liquid diet, modified anesthesia or deferral. The routine text presupposes anesthesia screening; it does not perform that screening.

Sources last checked:

Blood thinners around AF ablationGuideline + individualized plan
Template default
Before-procedure and restart fields default to handwriting. After ablation, the guide states at least 3 months of anticoagulation, with longer treatment based on stroke risk.
Why this choice
The 2023 U.S. guideline supports uninterrupted therapeutic warfarin and continuous or minimally interrupted DOAC therapy. The optional morning-only DOAC hold is a clinic-selected regimen, not a universal instruction.
Exceptions & limits
Name the drug and restart plan. Do not apply the DOAC option to warfarin. A planned hold differs from an unplanned missed dose; the latter may change procedural assessment. Three months is not an automatic stop date.

Sources last checked:

Missed blood thinner dosesU.S. medication labeling
Template default
Separate drug-specific instructions after discharge; report unplanned omissions before ablation.
Why this choice
Catch-up instructions differ by drug and dosing schedule. The guide includes the dabigatran 6-hour exception, rivaroxaban’s once-daily AF regimen, and warfarin clinic notification.
Exceptions & limits
Use the applicable row only after the prescribed restart. These are not instructions for repeated omissions, bleeding, inability to take medication or a missing restart order. Check the current label for the patient’s actual product.

Sources last checked:

Anesthesia and additional ablationPractice plan + guideline context
Template default
General anesthesia for this PFA guide; pulmonary-vein isolation with additional ablation if needed.
Why this choice
General anesthesia is the selected practice workflow, not a universal guideline mandate. Pulmonary-vein isolation is the core AF ablation strategy; additional treatment depends on findings and the agreed plan.
Exceptions & limits
This is PFA-specific, not a generic RF/cryo guide. The guideline does not establish routine extra lesions as beneficial for every patient. Match the description to the actual consent and anesthesia plan.

Sources last checked:

Recovery limits and warning signsPractice protocol + safety guidance
Template default
Gentle walking; 10-pound lifting limit for 7 days; no immersion for at least 5 days and until groin sites heal.
Why this choice
These exact intervals are selected practice defaults, not universal guideline requirements or a proven optimal schedule. The ablation guideline describes vascular and other complications, not this numeric recovery schedule.
Exceptions & limits
Use discharge instructions for access-site complications or other procedures. Emergency symptoms and worsening bleeding still require escalation; reducing calls must not suppress urgent care.

Sources last checked:

Some sources were last checked on 19 September; others were rechecked on 24 September. These notes are not a live literature monitor. Confirm applicability before adopting a default. Full reference list & update history

Check & record a practice version

No practice review recorded for this version.

    Advisory checks only—not a clinical safety check. Printing is never blocked. Intentional blanks can be completed by hand before handing the guide to a patient.

    Records the current wording and date; later edits require a new review. This is your practice’s attestation, not certification by PatientReady. Logo changes are not part of the clinical wording record.

    Reviewed version history

    Match the document ID printed on a saved guide to a record below. IDs identify wording, not the logo or later changes to a PDF. Review records are private to the issuing account and this procedure.

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    Compare & consider template updates

    Base 2026-09-19.5: the pacemaker guide now covers transvenous implantation without assuming two leads; leadless pacemakers remain separate. No new medicine or recovery defaults. Saved edits are preserved; use comparison to adopt the broader description. Prior update: preparation headings grouped with their first meaningful instructions. Prior update: fewer forced page breaks after the checklist and a closing footer kept with the preceding text. Prior update: compact print checklist, paragraph highlighting, section matching and printed-ID review lookup. Prior update: clearer pacemaker driving responsibility; fewer repeated remote-monitoring instructions; marked missed-dose rows; reusable after-hours contact. No medication hold intervals changed. Your edits are never replaced automatically.