Posted by Joseph Costa Jr on August 01, 2004 at 02:32:38:
In Reply to: Just Wondering posted by Steve Haluska on July 30, 2004 at 23:10:30:
Steve;
If you are considering the Maze you must be in the same category as many of the posters on this board who went through the many meds,cardioversions, ER visits, evaluations and the anxiety that comes with afib and finally, the decision to take a look at THE MAZE. This board is loaded with people who have had this surgery and various ablation procedures. I would encourage you to look through their posts. The info you can get here is not available any where else and has been very instrumental in many choosing to take the opportunity to get rid of afib with the MAZE.In the beginning you will find those who got the COX MAZE III from an ever increasing number of surgeons.Their success rate remains extraordinary. My perception from reading this board is that this procedure has produced the best, YET, results for curing Atrial Fibrillation. Med requirements post surgery have varied but for the most part have been what we are looking for- not required in a reasonable amount of time. I guess the less invasive catheter ablation procedures have lots of appeal and would be very hard to ignore. They were not available when I had my operation at the CCF in June 2000.(Perhaps in France but early in its development and aimed pretty much at pulmonary vein isolation).I think we are in a transition period right now with the cardiology community trying very hard to use minimum invasive proceduures. I had the full open chest CoxIII procedure on June 30th, 2000 at CCF by Doctor Patrick McCarthy and I have been in NSR ever since with no anti-arrhythmic meds since 3 months post Maze.If afib annoys you as much as it did so many who post here, I am sure you will get it fixed and not worry about how long you will have to take meds after. Odds are, it wont be long.Good Rhythms to you,
Joe Costa