A healthy heart beats in a predictable and smooth rhythm. This rhythm is stimulated by electrical impulses generated within the heart muscle. When the heartbeat becomes abnormal, the rhythms it produces are called arrhythmias. When the heart is beating more than 100 times per minute, this type of arrhythmia is called tachycardia, a potentially dangerous condition. It is caused when the electrical impulses in the heart’s electrical network travel along irregular pathways or repeat the same pathways over and over.

Ablation is a procedure to restore normal rhythm by destroying very small, carefully selected parts of the heart that cause tachycardia. In most cases, ablation refers to the use of catheters to destroy the selected areas of heart tissue. However, ablation can also be performed during open-heart surgery.

The minimally invasive method of ablation involves inserting a thin tube (catheter) through a blood vessel (in the upper thigh, wrist or arm) and all the way up to the heart. This tube is tipped with equipment to destroy the selected cardiac tissue, usually with radiofrequency energy. This procedure is often performed by a heart specialist called an electrophysiologist. Ablation has become the preferred technique for treating many forms of tachycardia, and the American Heart Association estimates that radiofrequency ablation (the most common type) is used successfully over 90 percent of the time. 

Depending on the cause of the underlying arrhythmia, there still may be a need for antiarrhythmic medications or an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Patients with atrial fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia, for example, may require continued use of antiarrhythmic medications. The type and severity of an arrhythmia may also require more invasive surgery in order to correct the problem.

The heart’s electrical system is rather complex. Electrical rhythms begin as impulses emitted from the sinus node, also known as the heart’s “natural pacemaker,” which cause the atria, or upper chambers of the heart, to contract. From the sinus node, these impulses travel across a specific route, or pathway, through the AV node and into the lower chambers of the heart ventricles. 
Once they reach the ventricles, the impulses cause the chambers to contract in a routine and consistent manner. If the impulses are interrupted, delayed or sent down the wrong path, the heartbeat may become irregular, too fast or too slow. If the heartbeat becomes too fast, ablation is often the best management option.