3 month review after Cox maze

[johnMiosh]

in April I had a mini-maze procedure and LAA occlusion as part of a clinical trial. The second phase is to have a catheter ablation. This will involve mapping my heart and ensuring that the lesions made previously have not left any electrical pathways. If they have, they will be fixed there and then. My consultant assures me that this will be equivalent to a full Cox-Maze IV lesion set. He is convinced that this will leave me AF free without drugs for years (his estimate of its efficacy was much higher than any reports I have read.)

I can stop taking the amiodarone and lansoprazole from today, and i am waiting for a slot for the second op; this could be as soon as August 14, depending on the availability of anaesthetists, but at any rate it will be completed before the end of October. The rivaroxaban will be stopped three months after the second op, at which time the bisoprolol will also be reviewed.

i have to say I am very happy with the results so far.

[meadfoot]

Pleased to hear things are good for you with an excellent prognosis for a heart healthy future. Good luck with part two of your journey. You must be thrilled. Thanks for sharing your story.

[MarkS]

I'm glad you're doing well. How long was the recovery from the mini-maze and how many days did you spend in hospital?

[johnMiosh in reply to MarkS]

Hi Mark, in my previous posts there is a run down of how the first couple of weeks went (bits of it weren't too pleasant).

I spent the first night in HDU, and the next one back on the ward. Iwas released the next afternoon and back at work after 17 days off; this was probably a few days too early.

[groesclose]

Marvellous. This sounds as if you are on the way to be mended. Looks like pace and ablate procedure is on the cards for me and it realy scares me. Where did you have your mini maze done.? I would be so interested in persuing possibility instead of being reliant on a pacemaker forever. Would be so interested in more information. I do wish you all the very best.

[johnMiosh in reply to groesclose]

Thanks groesclose, its looking good at the moment.

If pace and ablate is recommended there will be issues with your AV node, which makes it different to my circumstances.

My minimaze was performed by Dr Hunter at the Northern General in Sheffield. It was part of a clinical trial called Cease AF, sponsored by the manufacturers of atriclip. I was the second of only two people so far to get this procedure in Sheffield.