New MAZE Procedure Makes a World of Difference

Central Valley patients who suffer from atrial fibrillation (Afib) no longer have to leave the area to benefit from a new treatment option – the MAZE procedure – available at Saint Agnes.

Many patients with structural heart disease (i.e., mitral valve, aortic valve, coronary artery disease) also suffer from Afib. All too often, surgeons fix the structural disease but patients leave the operating room with their Afib left untreated. To combat this issue, Saint Agnes has adopted the use of the innovative MAZE IV procedure, allowing surgeons to treat Afib at the same time they’re performing open heart surgery.

Afib, an abnormality of the heart’s electrical system that causes the upper chambers of the heart to quiver rapidly, occurs when the heart’s electrical impulse is sidetracked from its normal path. Rather than sending an even signal to trigger the atrium to contract all at once, multiple signals are sent to different regions of the atrium, causing it to contract irregularly.

"Afib patients feel that sensation of a very rapid heart rate," says Saint Agnes Cardiothoracic Surgeon Richard Gregory, MD. "There are little tiny centers in the heart that are firing impulses inappropriately. The MAZE procedure was designed to corral those impulses to keep them away from the normal heart tissue."

After recovering from a stroke, Jack Green of Fresno battled with Afib. An avid hunter since he was a kid, he desperately wanted to be able to enjoy his passion, but the side effects of Afib were taking a toll on him.

"I was down physically and mentally, I couldn’t do anything," Jack says.

The MAZE procedure helped restore Jack's normal sinus rhythm and was performed concurrently with his bypass surgery.

With the MAZE procedure, also known as surgical ablation, cardiothoracic surgeons make a number of incisions on the heart's left and right atrium to form scar tissue, which disrupts the path of abnormal electrical impulses and prevents erratic electrical signals from recurring. Once the incisions are made, the atrium is sewn back together, resulting in what looks like a maze in which there is only one path for the electrical impulse to take.

Dr. Gregory says the MAZE procedure has been around for years, however it has developed more recently with the use of radio frequency.

"The radio frequency device, much like a microwave, will burn the heart, creating scarring without having to cut and sew," he says.

Jack says the MAZE procedure made a world of difference.

“There is no downside to it – it’s all up. This is the best thing I ever did,” he says.