Posted by Jack Drum on January 05, 2003 at 17:38:37:
In Reply to: Re: Dr. Cox & the Texas Heart Institute posted by Beverly Crane on January 05, 2003 at 07:16:28:
Beverly, some has already gave you some information on the mini maze.
I think Dr. Duncan only does the full open chest type. I know Dr. Cox has trained surgeons on the mini maze that work in other hospitals, but I am only aware of two. The Cleveland Clinic, which does the mini through the chest, without splitting the sternum all the way, and OSU Hospital, at Columbus Ohio that does the mini maze through the rib cage.
I also want to say that several people including myself feel that the open chest maze procedure gives a quicker cure, with less side effects that either of the mini maze procedures. Some that were cured by the mini maze, do not agree with this statment.
The mini maze name has a more appealing sound, but all 3 procedures are major surgery requiring being on the heart lung machine. This is only my opinion, but it seems the mini procedures add space, and movement restrictions on the surgeons that he does not have with the open chest type.
Carl mentioned the PVA procedures as done at the Cleveland Clinic and maybe a few other facilities. This might be a viable option, but except for the Cleveland Clinic, I would make sure exactly what type procedure they are doing, and with what equipment. The ablation procedures as a atrial fibrillation treatment is a fast evolving technique. It has changed much in the last couple years, and probably will continue to do so until a standard treatment is settled on.
There will probably be several changes in the maze procedure in the coming years also. Some are now using microwave tips to make the lesions, instead of cutting the heart. The cut and sew version of the Cox/Maze procedure is still the proven standard used by most surgeons.
- Re: Dr. Cox & the Texas Heart Institute Beverly Crane 05:37:27 1/06/2003 (0)