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Professor Fu Siong Ng
Imperial College Healthcare Private Care - Cardiology
What results can I expect after an external cardioversion?
Professor Fu Siong Ng, Professor of cardiology, consultant cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist, explains results after external cardioversion in this video, covering short-term success, restoring normal rhythm and why longer-term rhythm control can vary. This offers practical, patient-friendly guidance for those considering private care.
Transcript
External cardioversion is a highly successful procedure at the time of resetting.
So if you were to have this procedure, there is a very high likelihood that we will get you home in a normal rhythm, having reset your heart rhythm.
What is less easy to predict is once you go home, whether the heart at some point might decide to flip back into an irregular heart rhythm.
There is a substantial proportion who relapse back into an irregular heart rhythm despite initially successful cardioversion.
In those cases, we will entertain other forms of treatments to try and make sure the patient stays in a normal rhythm, including more invasive treatments like catheter ablation.