Posted by John Behle on March 19, 2002 at 02:24:55:
In Reply to: Surgeons in San Diego/LA?? posted by Nina McDonald on March 11, 2002 at 16:28:53:
Nina, at this point, we only have a couple MAZE surgeons listed in California in the Bay area. The one Jack posted about is a new name to us and we will add him to the list. I'm not sure anyone knows anything about him or his track record yet, but I did go to the site and it brought up some questions.
The site mentions he does the microwave procedure on a beating heart. Someday that may be the way the MAZE is done, but I'm not sure we are there yet. Maybe the day has come, but ...... I would ask a lot of questions and do a lot of research first.
The one truly unsuccessful MAZE operation we've run into here involved an experimental procedure on a beating heart by Dr. Cox. It did not cure the AFib and caused more problems. In addition, Dr. Cox who is the creator of the MAZE procedure and likely the most experienced surgeon wrote an article about the microwave procedure on a beating heart that was not very favorable. It is in the articles section here. An excerpt from the text follows. The article was written a little over two years ago, so it is possible they have overcome the obstacles cited by Dr. Cox - BUT I would want to be very sure first.
In addition, as I've experienced and watched the MAZE operation, it is NOT a simple procedure. With an experienced surgeon, it is a very safe procedure - but not simple. I made up my mind I would travel wherever I needed to to find a very capable and experienced surgeon. I was extremely fortunate to find that what I was looking for was only 35 miles away, though I would have traveled 35000 if that is what it took.
Dr. Millar in Salt Lake City has performed somewhere around or over 200 procedures and has had incredible success with his patients. If I were in your position, I would travel the distance to Utah, Cleveland or one of the other centers mentioned in this newsgroup to have that kind of experience.
Here's the excerpt from Dr. Cox's article.
"There is currently an intense interest in applying the principles of the Maze procedure in a less invasive manner so that a wider group of patients with atrial fibrillation can be treated safely and effectively. These efforts have centered around surgical attempts to curtail the number of lesions placed in the atria at the time of valve surgery and catheter-based attempts to re-create a part or all of the Maze procedure with radiofrequency ablation. Thus far, these techniques remain highly experimental and largely without merit. Many of the problems that we encountered several years ago in developing the surgical Maze procedure are now being repeated in patients undergoing these highly experimental and inadequately evaluated procedures. Nevertheless, there are occasional flashes of promise with some of these approaches. Moreover, it is clear that only a miniscule percentage of the patients with atrial fibrillation will ever become candidates for the open-heart Maze procedure as it is now performed. Therefore, the continuing struggle to relieve the invasive downside of the Maze procedure is warranted but with the caveat, especially to our cardiologist colleagues, to proceed with caution."