Maze Procedure for Atrial Fibrillation

The Maze Procedure is a procedure that was developed over the past fifteen years by Dr. James Cox. It is a sophisticated open heart surgical procedure used to treat patients who have atrial fibrillation refractory to medical therapy. Most patients who have undergone this procedure have failed multiple drug treatment programs to control their arrhythmia. Many of these patients have become toxic from their strong medications, necessitating discontinuance.

Atrial fibrillation can be a highly disabling arrhythmia for many patients, and it not only carries a poor subjective feeling, but also a very realistic possibility of having a stroke from thrombus formed within the atria breaking off and traveling to the brain, kidneys, extremities, etc.

The procedure usually requires cardiopulmonary bypass and the patient can expect to stay in the hospital approximately one week. Currently, only a handful of surgeons in the United States are doing this procedure due to its complexity. To date, the procedure has been highly effective on patients who have undergone the operation at the Texas Heart Institute, and it is not considered experimental.

Please feel free to contact us at Surgical Associates of Texas, P.A. with any questions regarding this procedure.

Surgical Associates of Texas, P.A., the cardiovascular surgical team at the Texas Heart Institute, have more experience than any other cardiovascular surgical group in the world, having performed approximately 100,000 open heart surgeries of all types and degrees of complexity and over 800 heart transplants. Many of our patients have had successful operations and recovery when previously led to believe that no further treatment options were possible.

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