Posted by Carl Plaskett on April 13, 2002 at 10:20:57:
Roger: I started a new thread, since Tim posted his "Concerned Mazer" question a week ago.
I assume that you are still having a junctional rythym now that you are about 8 months post-maze,
but still afib and drug free, as you have been for a number of months.Your question of whether you fall into the 2% "not cured" or the 98% "cured" is a good one! I think
it all depends upon who is quoting the numbers. Each facility might classify your result differently,
but I suspect that most facilities/surgeons would consider you "cured", since you ARE rid of afib.I BELIEVE, from what I REMEMBER from the 2/06/02 video on the CC web site, that they
consider "cured" to include even those like you or even ones with a pacer but no drugs. Watch
the film when the statistics are discussed in the first 15 minutes or so. I think they have
about 95% total cure, with about 3 % needing a pacer or small drug dosage. Some of those 3-5%
not TOTALLY cured may not have elected or been candidates for, additional treatment by ablation.
I don't know if a junctional beat can be helped with one of the newer ablation techniques.Have you ASKED at Ohio State what their "cure" rate is and then asked what THEY consider "cured"?
It is an interesting question, and I would like to hear the answers from other maze surgeons/facilities
as well. Anybody out there who can extract these answers from their own surgeons/facilities might
post the info here, but until some independent study is done, which of course costs money and is of
little value (except to people who want precise statistics), I don't hold out much hope for knowing
the maze "cure" rate among ALL facilities combined.