Afib Procedure Info.

I do believe information regarding this procedure has been posted here before but just wanted to pass this along to everyone, especially those with long-standing permanent afib..

A co-worker's brother, who had been in permanent afib for 10 years had this procedure performed 10 weeks ago. He said his brother is doing great and remains in nsr. He had a few blips early after the surgery, but has been fine since. His brother told him he felt better than he had in years and was so happy he had the procedure. I asked him to keep me updated and will pass any other information along.

Jodi

[www.firsthealth.org]

Jodi,

Wow, my understanding is that 10 years is a long time to be in AF without remodeling/scarring greatly reducing the probability of treatment success. It is reassuring that the doctors were willing to go a ahead with the procedures. It will be interesting to see how this turns out -- although it is just one case -- and to know what how much scarring they found -- although we probably won't learn this. I would assume that, in spite of such a long time in AF, his left atrium was not enlarged ?

As I have mentioned before, Dr Marrouche has used MRI to determine the amount of scarring and therefore the likelihood of a successful CA -- rather than depending on factors such as age, that have a looser relationship with success:

<[healthcare.utah.edu].

For those who are interested, here are some others who are exploring the "hybrid" or "convergent" procedures:

[www.tcainstitute.com]

[www.nmh.org]

-- Dick