The Maze procedure

[Guest guest]

I have no doubt that the maze procedure has been a Godsend to many AF

patients; Yet, I have heard, and know of at least one maze patient

personally who was not helped by the maze; Certainly the success rate is

very high, but the long term clinical data is not yet in on this procedure;

The maze (and other) procedures may be a cure for many, but can we

truthfully say that it is a cure for all?

Particularly this is the case, if as many suspect, that AF is truly a

neurological disorder which involves the heart, rather than simply a

conduction pathology centered in the heart and/or proximate pulmonary

arteries.

I think we are witnessing two phenomenons here; The first are the group of

doctors who will do little more for their AF patients than prescribe blood

thinners; The second are those brave clinicians who desire to help, and in

fact help many, but then label their procedures as " cures " . Does not the

truth usually lie somewhere in between?

[Guest guest]

You are correct in that the Maze procedure has been a Godsend for

thousands of AF patients in many countries of the world since 1987.

It isn't a procedure for everyone with AF. People who have mild

cases of AF, where it does not diminish their quality of life to a

less than acceptable level, people who are satisfied with the

quality, and efficiency of the medications, and the ones who can

tolerate the medication side effects, should not even consider the

Maze procedure.

It is for the people who feel that they have reached their limit of

the life style altering effects of the AF, or could no longer stand

the side effects of the medications.

The only person that I have ever had contact with where the Maze

didn't help at all, and even made things worse, was a lady from

Indiana, who was the 1st or 2nd patient to undergo the experimental

style of Maze procedure of operating on a beating heart. I don't

think anyone is using this procedure anymore.

The long term effects of the Maze is one of the reasons I started the

Maze Alumni message board, so many of us can keep in contact and stay

informed as to what might be coming down the road.

There is such a wide range of the effects of AF on different people's

lives that I doubt if there will ever be one magic bullet to solve

the AF problems for everyone.

> I have no doubt that the maze procedure has been a Godsend to many

AF

> patients; Yet, I have heard, and know of at least one maze patient

> personally who was not helped by the maze; Certainly the success

rate is

> very high, but the long term clinical data is not yet in on this

procedure;

> The maze (and other) procedures may be a cure for many, but can we

> truthfully say that it is a cure for all?

> Particularly this is the case, if as many suspect, that AF is

truly a

> neurological disorder which involves the heart, rather than simply a

> conduction pathology centered in the heart and/or proximate

pulmonary

> arteries.

> I think we are witnessing two phenomenons here; The first are the

group of

> doctors who will do little more for their AF patients than

prescribe blood

> thinners; The second are those brave clinicians who desire to help,

and in

> fact help many, but then label their procedures as " cures " . Does

not the

> truth usually lie somewhere in between?

[Guest guest]

I am not sure that anything is a real cure for AF including the maze

which I have scheduled for early January. The maze does not address

the underlying cause of the problem. We don't know what causes lone

AF so the maze takes care of only the effect which is the multiple

inappropriate electrical impulses in the atria. It does this very

well, however, and after almost 13 years of surgical success, the

long term results seem better than anything else around.

I have more of a problem with the EP's who keep claiming cures or

that cures are right around the corner. At least, the maze has solid

facts and numbers. These others are still experimental and not

always substantiated.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 11/21/2000 5:52:01 PM Eastern Standard Time,

brmorgan@... writes:

> I have no doubt that the maze procedure has been a Godsend to many AF

> patients; Yet, I have heard, and know of at least one maze patient

> personally who was not helped by the maze; Certainly the success rate is

> very high, but the long term clinical data is not yet in on this procedure;

> The maze (and other) procedures may be a cure for many, but can we

> truthfully say that it is a cure for all?

> Particularly this is the case, if as many suspect, that AF is truly a

> neurological disorder which involves the heart, rather than simply a

> conduction pathology centered in the heart and/or proximate pulmonary

> arteries.

> I think we are witnessing two phenomenons here; The first are the group of

> doctors who will do little more for their AF patients than prescribe blood

> thinners; The second are those brave clinicians who desire to help, and in

> fact help many, but then label their procedures as " cures " . Does not the

> truth usually lie somewhere in between?

>

>

>

I could not agree more-the 2 extremes-the blood thinners/antiarrytmics

doctors and the open heart surgery-what concerns me so very deeply about all

of this is that neither side actually has any understanding of what causes

the affib and are using techniques that carry all kinds of risks with

it-these risks are large to us both physically and emotionally-the long term

affects of the maze are unknown -What troubles me about the maze (and i am no

fan of the blood thinner/drugs route as you know) is that if it is such a

success , why are so few doctors and hospitals doing it-if it is a cure for

affib it should be offered everywhere-if there was a cancer cure or ms cure

would not there be doctors and hospitals everywhere performing it? What is

the real truth about the lack of places doing the maze? We know the real

truth about the drugs, which are bandaid approaches-and offer little in the

way of relief for us in the long term as they are presently constituted,

unless someone discovers the magic silver bullet drug-

jerry