Posted by Ed Wehan on May 01, 2001 at 18:14:12:
In Reply to: Atrial size vs effectiveness of maze posted by Rob Hamill on May 01, 2001 at 18:12:51:
Prior to my surgery, I did a lot of research on all of this and my finding is that the failure of the maze occurs most often in people with an enlarged left atrium. I believe that Dr. Cox indicates this and I know in my discussion with two maze surgeons they stated that this was the case. If you don't have an enlarged left atrium, your success ratio is really high.
But, what is large??? Both surgeons told me that I was a 4.3 or 4.5 and that although that was slightly above the normal, large was like a 7 or so. The 4.5 wouldn't be a problem. So, at this point, I wouldn't worry about it too much.