What does ablation mean in medical terms?
(a-BLAY-shun) In medicine, the removal or destruction of a body part or tissue or its function. Ablation may be performed by surgery, hormones, drugs, radiofrequency, heat, or other methods.
What does ablation therapy do?
Ablation therapy is a type of minimally invasive procedure doctors use to destroy abnormal tissue that can be present in many conditions.
What is soft tissue ablation?
It has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for soft tissue ablation (removal). The technique involves inserting a probe, guided by computed tomography or ultrasound, and sending radio waves through the probe. The radio waves generate heat, which both destroys adjacent tissue and cauterizes blood vessels.
What does radical excision mean?
Listen to pronunciation. (RA-dih-kul LOH-kul ek-SIH-zhun) Surgery to remove a tumor and a large amount of normal tissue surrounding it.
What kind of surgery is an ablation?
Surgical ablation, also known as maze surgery or Cox-maze procedure, aims to eliminate atrial fibrillation (A-fib). It is a form of open-heart surgery often performed while a person is having a surgery for additional heart problems, such as a valve replacement or heart bypass.
What is the difference between resection and excision?
Resection is similar to excision except it involves cutting out or off, without replacement, all of a body part. Resection includes all of a body part or any subdivision of a body part having its own body part value in ICD-10-PCS, while excision includes only a portion of a body part.
Why is a surgery called radical?
Radical surgery, also called radical dissection, is surgery that is more extensive than “conservative” surgery. In surgical oncology, radical surgery is surgery intended to remove both a tumor and any metastases thereof, for diagnostic and/or treatment purposes.
How many years does an ablation last?
Long-term success of AF ablation procedures, defined as freedom from arrhythmia recurrence for a minimum of 36 months off antiarrhythmic therapy, can be achieved in many patients.
How long is ablation recovery?
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. During this time, you may need anti-arrhythmic medications or other treatment.