Posted by Carl Plaskett on January 13, 2004 at 19:05:01:
In Reply to: I Tend to Agree with You! posted by Bud Viren on January 13, 2004 at 14:11:17:
Bud: I'm like you and Henry as well: happy to have had a skilled surgeon who could see what was going on while doing the open chest Maze III. We've got to remember that many, many "mini" or minimally invasive Maze IIIs have been done using a scope for vision and long instruments to hook up the bypass machine, open the heart, make the maze cuts/lesions, sew up, etc., and they have been successful as well (albeit, not quite as successful on the "first try" as the open chest routine, but pretty close).
Your analogies of a coathanger or borescope were good, but obviously the EXPERIENCED EPs doing PVAs have gotten good at it (with tools which move in microscopic increments), which is why I suggest that those going the PVA route KNOW how experienced their doctor is at the EXACT procedure they are considering. Those with less experience/less than 75% success rates would certainly scare me more than having my chest opened, and should something go wrong, the surgeon is right there to take care of it...IMMEDIATELY, as opposed to having to then race to open the chest to get to the problem, which has happened to one of us!(with excellent results, I should add).
- Re: I Tend to Agree with You! Sarah 23:48:02 1/13/2004 (0)