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Heart Disease (Expert Forum)
Re: New Cure for Atrial Fibrilation
This forum is for questions and support regarding heart issues such as: Angina, Angioplasty, Arrhythmia, Bypass Surgery, Cardiomyopathy, Coronary Artery Disease, Defibrillator, Heart Attack, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Pacemaker, PAD, Stenosis, Stress Tests.
Re: New Cure for Atrial Fibrilation
by Shari__0, Jan 01, 1995 12:00AM
Posted By Shari on September 09, 1998 at 19:35:08:
In Reply to: Re: New Cure for Atrial Fibrilation posted by CCF CARDIO MD - MTR on September 09, 1998 at 17:49:42:
My husband, who is 55 years old, has atrial fibrilation. He is
currently taking medication to control this problem. I heard of a new
non-invasive procedure to fix atrial fibrilation on the news this morning
being done somewhere in Indiana. I want to say University of Indiana but
I'm not sure. Just from the brief description of the procedure it looked
somewhat similar to an ablation. Can you give me some more details about
how the procedure is done? From what I understand this is a very new
procedure.
Thank you very much for your response.
_____
Dear Shari, thank you for your question. The procedure I think you're referring to is called the Maze Procedure. The Maze Procedure was developed by a cardiothoracic surgeon at Washington University in St. Louis. In this procedure, cryoablation of the atria is performed to form a "maze" of destroyed electrical tissue to prevent propagation of the aberrant electrical impulses that cause afib. When afib is present, there is chaotic electrical activity of the atria that is transmitted to the ventricles to cause a rapid, irregular pulse. By forming "blind" channels for the electrical impulses to travel, this procedure is designed to cause the afib to "die out" and not be transmitted to the ventricles. Results with the surgical Maze Procedure are varied with roughly half of the patients having recurrent afib on follow-up. The surgical procedure requires open-heart surgery which is invasive and is associated with complications. Cardiologists who take care of patients with rhythm disorders (called electrophysiologists) have developed techniques to do a similar procedure with catheters. Catheters with special tips can be used to perform radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of extra conduction pathways in the heart. RFA is a safe procedure and has been adapted for a catheter-based Maze Procedure. During this procedure, maze channels are made with RFA rather than with cryosurgery which avoids the risks of surgery and has a much shorter recovery time. Certain specialized cardiac centers are performing a catheter-based Maze procedure and I haven't seen any results published yet in medical journals. In my opinion, if this is the procedure that you are referring to, you and your husband would want to be well-informed about the risks and benefits before deciding to go through with it. Also, he may not even be a candidate for such a procedure. Therefore, I suggest that you contact the University of Indiana for more information. As far as I know, we haven't done any catheter-based Maze procedures at the Cleveland Clinic yet. I hope I've answered your question, but if not, please feel free to write back with more questions. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies.
Thank you for your prompt response to my question. The procedure I was
referring to wasn't the Maze procedure. This procedure is very new. From
what I understand there wasn't a way that atrial fibrilation could be
corrected permanently. This procedure allowed the problem to be corrected
permanently with no medication needed after the procedure. I have been
looking for the information in various places on the Internet, but I suppose
it's too new to be listed anywhere. My husband who has had an ablation
before mentioned that the procedure looked to be the same as he had been through
for another heart problem. I believe that was venticular. I believe the doctors name that
performed this new procedure was a Dr. Snipes (sp?). If you hear or see
anything about this procedure in medical journals I would be most appreciative
if you would pass on the information. We will be seeing the cardiologist in
a couple of months for a follow-up visit and will inquire there as well.
Thanks again so much......
In Reply to: Re: New Cure for Atrial Fibrilation posted by CCF CARDIO MD - MTR on September 09, 1998 at 17:49:42:
My husband, who is 55 years old, has atrial fibrilation. He is
currently taking medication to control this problem. I heard of a new
non-invasive procedure to fix atrial fibrilation on the news this morning
being done somewhere in Indiana. I want to say University of Indiana but
I'm not sure. Just from the brief description of the procedure it looked
somewhat similar to an ablation. Can you give me some more details about
how the procedure is done? From what I understand this is a very new
procedure.
Thank you very much for your response.
_____
Dear Shari, thank you for your question. The procedure I think you're referring to is called the Maze Procedure. The Maze Procedure was developed by a cardiothoracic surgeon at Washington University in St. Louis. In this procedure, cryoablation of the atria is performed to form a "maze" of destroyed electrical tissue to prevent propagation of the aberrant electrical impulses that cause afib. When afib is present, there is chaotic electrical activity of the atria that is transmitted to the ventricles to cause a rapid, irregular pulse. By forming "blind" channels for the electrical impulses to travel, this procedure is designed to cause the afib to "die out" and not be transmitted to the ventricles. Results with the surgical Maze Procedure are varied with roughly half of the patients having recurrent afib on follow-up. The surgical procedure requires open-heart surgery which is invasive and is associated with complications. Cardiologists who take care of patients with rhythm disorders (called electrophysiologists) have developed techniques to do a similar procedure with catheters. Catheters with special tips can be used to perform radiofrequency ablation (RFA) of extra conduction pathways in the heart. RFA is a safe procedure and has been adapted for a catheter-based Maze Procedure. During this procedure, maze channels are made with RFA rather than with cryosurgery which avoids the risks of surgery and has a much shorter recovery time. Certain specialized cardiac centers are performing a catheter-based Maze procedure and I haven't seen any results published yet in medical journals. In my opinion, if this is the procedure that you are referring to, you and your husband would want to be well-informed about the risks and benefits before deciding to go through with it. Also, he may not even be a candidate for such a procedure. Therefore, I suggest that you contact the University of Indiana for more information. As far as I know, we haven't done any catheter-based Maze procedures at the Cleveland Clinic yet. I hope I've answered your question, but if not, please feel free to write back with more questions. Information provided in the heart forum is for general purposes only. Only your physician can provide specific diagnoses and therapies.
Thank you for your prompt response to my question. The procedure I was
referring to wasn't the Maze procedure. This procedure is very new. From
what I understand there wasn't a way that atrial fibrilation could be
corrected permanently. This procedure allowed the problem to be corrected
permanently with no medication needed after the procedure. I have been
looking for the information in various places on the Internet, but I suppose
it's too new to be listed anywhere. My husband who has had an ablation
before mentioned that the procedure looked to be the same as he had been through
for another heart problem. I believe that was venticular. I believe the doctors name that
performed this new procedure was a Dr. Snipes (sp?). If you hear or see
anything about this procedure in medical journals I would be most appreciative
if you would pass on the information. We will be seeing the cardiologist in
a couple of months for a follow-up visit and will inquire there as well.
Thanks again so much......
