Posted by Ed Wehan on April 27, 2001 at 19:05:01:
In Reply to: To maze or not to maze posted by Lowell Rottrup on April 27, 2001 at 19:03:52:
Lowell, my history seems to be similar to yours. I was 14 years in AFib but mostly it was controlled by drugs, the last one being Tambacor. Eventually, the effectiveness wore out and I became chronic. I had my maze done two weeks ago today.
I am also 56 (57 in a month)and feel that it is advantageous to have this done when you are younger. I am very active running, hiking etc and I wanted to be able to continue to do this and not let the AFib limit me. I was out of the hospital in four days and back home in six. As any person on this page would tell you, it is open heart surgery and will have an impact on you. Having said this, I am pleased that I did it and am looking forward to the future.
I went to the Cleveland Clinic where Dr. McCarthy does a minimally invasive approach to the surgery. He uses a 3 to 4 inch chest opening that allows access to the heart but limits the size of the incision. However, there are many fine surgeons out there who use the complete sternum approach and you heal up pretty quick. I came out from California so it was some distance.
Hope this helps. Good luck.