Return to Cleveland --- Post-Maze Ablation?

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Posted by Henry Alken on April 08, 2002 at 21:57:02:

This afternoon I got a telephone call from Lisa Keene from Dr McCarthy's office at the Cleveland Clinic making their routine 6 month patient checkup. I told her that I was in Atrial Flutter at 130 bpm but controlled by Rhythmol and Toprol which bring down the pulse rate to 77 bpm.

Upon receiving this information she said she wanted to check with Dr McCarthy and Dr Hammer and would call me back.

She called back later and told me to send a new EKG, whilst in Atrial Flutter, and to plan on coming to CC for an Ablation by Dr Tchou. She said Dr McCarthy believed that less than 1 percent of Maze patients have this problem. She mentioned the technical description of where Dr McCarthy thought the problem was located, but I missed it.

Needless to say, the suddeness of having to plan a return to CC together with thought of enduring an Ablation has really rattled me. Angie Strand's description of her Ablation procedure gives me no comfort at all.

Have there been any Post-Maze Ablations that we know about? I seem to remember that Mike Johnson had a problem like this. Does anyone know how he is currently? There was a lot of board discussion with Jeanne Szakacs at one time. The name Ed Hefferon also comes to mind.

Thomas Glass emailed me and recommended that I wait 8 to 12 months before doing anything.

I also received a very helpful email from Steve Giddings who took the time to explain a lot of the details to me.

To be truthful, I don't know what to do at this time. I had one Ablation prior to the Maze and the whole idea of the procedure makes me nervous. In addition, they often have to be repeated.

I would appreciate hearing from any members of this board as to what they think about all this.

Thanks,
Henry Alken

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