Wolf Mini-maze

I did a search and just saw one post on above topic. Is it not a real thing? It came up on a group I am on. it looks very interesting to complicated cases so I am curious if there is a reason it isn't more prevalent as some sing it's praises. Just one more thing to research. I am sure there are opinions? thoughts? places to learn more?

thanks

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bettylou4488
I did a search and just saw one post on above topic. Is it not a real thing? It came up on a group I am on. it looks very interesting to complicated cases so I am curious if there is a reason it isn't more prevalent as some sing it's praises. Just one more thing to research. I am sure there are opinions? thoughts? places to learn more?

thanks

There are more here. It is real. From memory, issue is recovery is much longer & no way to address flutter.

There are also hybrid procedures. Mini maze + catheter ablation.

I'd be going to Natale instead. Much better - my opinion.

I'm out the door. Try to find more later.

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GeorgeN


There are more here. It is real. From memory, issue is recovery is much longer & no way to address flutter.

There are also hybrid procedures. Mini maze + catheter ablation.

I'd be going to Natale instead. Much better - my opinion.

I'm out the door. Try to find more later.

I'll keep searching thanks

I considered a Maze procedure at one time but quickly ruled it out for the following reasons:

1. Even the mini-Maze procedure is a significant surgical procedure with all the risks that surgery entails
2. Recovery time is weeks, not days, and much more uncomfortable
3. Atrial flutter is a very common side effect
4. If flutter occurs, an RF ablation will be needed to eliminate it

In my mind these issues just don't add up in favor of Maze, particularly #4. If Maze leaves me with a new problem I didn't have before and I have to get an ablation to solve that, then why not just do an ablation in the first place and skip the holes in my chest? I also already knew how hard it can be to successfully ablate atypical flutter. That's not a task for an average EP.

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Carey

[*] If flutter occurs, an RF ablation will be needed to eliminate it
I also already knew how hard it can be to successfully ablate atypical flutter. That's not a task for an average EP.

I already had two ablations that included atypical flutter. It’s not easy to find. What’s a plan B that isn’t a nuked AV ablation?

After my 2nd ablation failed my local EP was talking to me about a laparoscopic type ablation where they would work from inside and outside the heart. Cant remember what it was called but same principle as the maze scaring the heart from both outside and inside.

I was contemplating it until I found this site and spoke with Dr Natale.

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susan.d
I already had two ablations that included atypical flutter. It’s not easy to find. What’s a plan B that isn’t a nuked AV ablation?

An EP capable of finding it and ablating it. Most EPs will just do what's known as a roof line, meaning they'll burn a line across the roof of the atrium in an attempt to block the flutter circuit. It's usually done as a blind procedure, meaning they don't actually know where the flutter circuit is; they're just taking a gamble that it's in the most common location. I had several such gambles, none of which paid off. Natale found it in the LAA, where all the lines in the world would never have stopped it. Then he found a second flutter circuit in the coronary sinus, again where no lines would matter. Mind you, three previous EPs had failed to find either one, and two of those EPs were the heads of electrophysiology at prestigious medical schools.

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rocketritch
After my 2nd ablation failed my local EP was talking to me about a laparoscopic type ablation where they would work from inside and outside the heart. Cant remember what it was called but same principle as the maze scaring the heart from both outside and inside.

I was contemplating it until I found this site and spoke with Dr Natale.

That's the hybrid procedure somebody mentioned above. A surgeon first does a Maze procedure and then an EP does an ablation during the same procedure.

Frankly, I don't even get the point of such a procedure.

No medical person has ever mentioned a maze procedure to me, but from what research I have done the word maze is synonymous with "call Dr. Natale."

It kind of sounds like many have no idea about the mini-maze, and therefore have negative ideas about it because it's new and Dr Natalie is so effective. This does not add up to saying mini-maze is not effective, and while it';s not perfect, statistics seem to point to it being more effective than an ablation. The hybrid procedure even more so...stats show it to be MUCH more effective than ablations across the board. Unfortunately for all of us, Dr Natalie can't work forever, and we WILL have to open to other options at some point.

The Wolf Mini Maze is not new. Dr Wolf has been doing it since 2004 and Dr Ohtsuka since 2008 in Tokyo.
It is thoracoscopic from both sides of the chest and the incisions are small and hardly show after 4 months.

In fact, Dr Wolf is the originator of the mini-maze and also co-invented some AtriCure instruments used in the procedure.
Between them they have done over 5,000 procedures with stellar success rate.

After my WMM four months ago I stopped taking Eliquis and on no drugs at all.
I am 76, in NSR every day all day and can drink wine, coffee, and exercise with no episodes.