Posted by Steve Giddings on December 23, 2003 at 18:48:08:
In Reply to: MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL posted by Jack Drum on December 20, 2003 at 20:41:09:
Happy Christmas to you all. I hope the coming year is the best for you all ever.
I'd like to make a couple of points about finding "the" cause for atrial fibrillation, so as to define the best cure. I've been biting my tongue on this one for a while, but I can't keep quiet any longer. There certainly many different causes for atrial fibrillation, and likely more than one contributing factor in any one case. So looking to reverse the fully established disease by treating the underlying cause is not likely to work.
There are genetic components likely. Robert Roberts, MD, at Baylor, has been collecting families with a strong history of AF and has identified at least one gene defect, but this gene defect is certainly not the only cause.
So, in my view, handsome is as handsome does. Thanks to Dr. Jimmy Cox and his surgical skills, and the pioneering work of both Dr. Cox and his several colleagues who mapped the various electrical pathways seen in individual cases during the 1980's, I have been A fib free for almost 5 years, since I had the maze procedure on January 7, 1999.
God bless you all.
Steve Giddings