Posted by L. Paul Teague on June 27, 2004 at 10:50:06:
In Reply to: Re: Six Years Post Minimally-Invasive Port Access Maze-III Surgery for Atrial Fibrillation posted by Henry Alken on June 25, 2004 at 22:14:33:
Henry:
To expand on what Thomas said: my incision was an 8 cm cut [about 3.2 inches]over the 4th intercostal space [i.e., between the 4th and 5th ribs] on the right side.
To get at the heart, the right lung had to be collapsed and pushed aside. To put the heart on bypass, a catheter with an inflatable bulb was snaked into the heart through an incision made in the artery at the groin.
Although, this was a very complex procedure, the main problem Dr. Cox had was with patients who had developed pulmonary fibrosis from amiadarone treatment. He was able to overcome these problems, but they complicated the surgery and recovery.
One of the side effects of amiadarone is pulmonary fibrosis. In the intial stages, the fibrosis is symptom free so it is difficult to detect except by direct observation during surgery. Contary to what many doctors say, amiadarone induced pulmonary fibrosis is usually not reversible. The damage is permanent, but in some cases it may not progress further when amiadarone treatment is stopped. This is another reason to be leary of amiadarone.
Dr. Cox required all his patients to be off amiadarone for 6 weeks before the surgery. He was very careful to avoid amiadarone associated surgical complications.
The port access surgery I had was technically demanding. Dr. Cox had a 99% sucess rate with it. Before Dr. Cox retired he started using what he called a "mini-maze" procedure which gave better access to the heart -- without totally splitting the breast bone. It also made the clamping for bypass much easier. I think this is the procedure used by Dr. McCarthy on Thomas.
All of us whose lives have been improved by Maze surgery are indebted to Dr. Cox. I owe my life to him. He is probably the most skilled and innovative heart surgeon ever. If the Nobel Prize for Medicine selection committe was not dominated by medicine oriented [as compared to surgically oriented] doctors, Dr. Cox would probably have received the award.
Henry, because diet is even more controversial than AF treatments, I will answer your other question about diet in an email directly to you.
- Re: Six Years Post Minimally-Invasive Port Access Incision Henry Alken 22:19:00 6/27/2004 (0)