Heart Valve Surgery Tips - Heart Valve Replacement - Mitral - Tricuspid

Heart Valve Surgery – Maze Procedure Cures A-Fib!

The Maze Procedure performed by Dr. Levy during my open heart surgery three months ago was a rousing success. Dr. Blake, my cardiologist, took the time to go over my last pacemaker interrogation results with me.

There is no mistake, the graphs show that the incidence of atrial fibrillation in my heart has dropped from almost 100% down to almost 0%.

Now that my A-Fib is cured, and after I recover from the open heart surgery and the upcoming surgery to move my pacer to a sub-pectoral position, I’ll feel much better and have lots more energy.

It is absolutely amazing to me that this has happened in such a short time. The Maze Procedure cure was so complete for me that I’ll no longer be on any heart medication or anti-arrhythmic drugs of any kind.

And, I’ll soon be off the Warfarin (blood thinner) too. In fact, now that my A-Fib has been cured, the only medications I’ll have to take will be a daily thyroid medication (Levothyroxine) and a small baby aspirin (81 mg.).

I’m just ecstatic with this good news, it will be the first time in over thirteen years that I won’t have to take anti-arrhythmic drugs.

I will, however, always still need a working pacemaker because of my tachy-brady syndrome (fast to slow to zero heart rate). Before I got my first pacer, sometimes, my heart wouldn’t beat for several seconds at a time.

A-Fib is a heart condition found in about 2.2 million Americans. About one in twenty have it in our country. Studies show that six percent of all women have A-Fib.

During atrial fibrillation, the heart’s two upper chambers don’t beat effectively, rather they quiver instead of beating normally.

The blood isn’t completely pumped out of the atria (two upper heart chambers), so there is a chance that it may pool and clot.

When a blood clot or a piece of a clot leaves the heart, it could become lodged in an artery in the brain, and that’s when a stroke results. About 15 percent of all strokes occur in people with A-Fib.

As the diagram shows, the surgical Maze Procedure consists of creating a number of incisions in the atrium (one of the heart’s upper chambers).

These incisions are meant to disrupt errant electrical signals thereby stopping quivering in the atria and restoring normal sinus rhythm (usually 60-100 beats/minute) to the heart.

Current studies show that the Maze Procedure effectively cures atrial fibrillation at least eighty percent of the time.

Now, if you were to ask me if I would willingly go through open heart surgery just to cure my A-Fib, the answer would be a definite and resounding NO.

However, since my open heart surgery to repair a severely regurgitating tricuspid valve was necessary to save my life; and since Dr. Levy, my heart surgeon, was going to already be inside my heart making the valve repair, I’m delighted that one of the side benefits to my heart valve surgery was that the Maze Procedure cured my chronic A-Fib.

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