Mini Maze

[Norm]

Does anyone have any information or can point me in the right direction.

I have just found out that when I had my Aortic heart valve replaced in January this year they also tried to 'cure' my Afib with a Mini Maze.

Unfortunately this did not work as I now have Afib 24/7.

So my question is this, is there anything that can be done or tried to stop the afib as it would appear that the Mini Maze was a failure and to what information I have managed to find about 85% of these are a success do I am part of the 15% failures.

Could a catheter or balloon ablation be tried or even a cardioversion.

My medication at present, and has been for some while consists only of Bisoprolol at 10mg, 5mg twice a day.

Any thoughts on this appreciated as also it would appear that I am at the limit for the Bisoprolol and that is not adequately controlling the afib.

Thanks

Norm

[BobD Volunteer]

Firstly Norm, beta blockers do not control AF they merely keep the heart rate down during AF. Only rhythm control drugs can even attempt to control (i e reduce) AF events. Mini maze as you will find if you read the AF Association literature on such things is a surgical procedure sometimes carried out in conjunction with other heart surgery where incisions are made to create hopefully impulse blocking scar tissue.

Cardioversion is not a cure for AF and may only put you into NSR for a few minutes or it may last for some time. It is often used to assess the worth of attempting ablation If it doesn't work then ablation may also not. Catheter ablation be it RF or cryo balloon involves threading a catheter into your heart and either using heat (RF) or cold (cryo balloon) to cause the scar tissue. I'm no expert but I always thought that mini maze had a much higher success rate than either of the above or the newer and more rare laser balloon ablations. I suggest that you discuss this with your EP although my fear would be that he may feel additional intervention may not be worth the risks.

[Polski]

Bisoprolol will not stop the AFib, but slows down your heart rate, so that when you are in AF the heart doesn't beat so very fast. This is considered important because if the heart rate is allowed to go too high too often, then the left atrium can become enlarged ie other heart problems can develop, which the doctors are very anxious to prevent.

Apart from this all treatment seems to be intended to improve your quality of life eg by cardioversion, by taking rhythm control drugs, or through ablation. Only you can decide if you want to go down any of these routes. An appointment with an EP should tell you what is possible - See other posts about this option.