How common are complications from cardiac ablation?

The ablated (or destroyed) areas of tissue inside your heart may take up to eight weeks to heal. You may still have arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) during the first few weeks after your ablation.

The overall complication rate of cardiac ablation has been shown to be 6.29% . Most common complications of procedure were cardiac (2.65%), vascular (1.33%), and neurological (1.05%) as shown in Table 1. According one study, cardiac tamponade was the most common complication with a rate of 1.31%.

After a single ablation procedure, arrhythmia-free survival rates were 40%, 37%, and 29% at one, two, and five years . Most recurrences occurred within the first six months, while arrhythmias recurred in 10 of 36 patients who maintained sinus rhythm for at least one year.

Catheter ablation has some risks, including bleeding, infection, blood vessel damage, heart damage, arrhythmias, and blood clots . There also may be a very slight risk of cancer from radiation used during catheter ablation.