Catheter ablation vs mini maze

I am curious if anyone has information on how these two procedures compare. I saw a video from the doctor that created the atriclip used in the mini maze and he was suggesting that during the catheter ablation, when they are placing the catheter that stuff breaks off in the blood vessels and goes to your brain, I believe they term for this was hits? They talked about transcranial doppler imaging studies that show this occurrence. They suggested it took at least 3 months before they no longer appeared on the tcd, but they said this accounted for headaches and brain fog etc, post procedure.
Can anyone address this concern. Is the mini maze a better procedure because of this and the fact that the LAA is clipped?

Thanks for any information you can provide.

boy seems to me it is..if u can handle it..no aspirin...95 success rate

I've had neither procedure as of yet, but my understanding is that the mini-maze is a more involved procedure, requiring longer recovery times and possibly increased risk for surgical complications. Having said that, pro mini-maze folks tout the 96% success rate and that removing or clipping the LAA is superior to the watchman option.

There appears to be a subgroup of folks who develop Atrial Flutter after the mini-maze. Some of these people need to have an ablation down the road to address the Flutter issue.

True on all counts…but if done buy dr wolf…in Houston …much less risk…call

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BobsBeat
There appears to be a subgroup of folks who develop Atrial Flutter after the mini-maze. Some of these people need to have an ablation down the road to address the Flutter issue.

My understanding from the WMM web site is that flutter can happen after the WMM but generally resolves by itself as the heart heals. Some however may need a single cardioversion at 4-6 weeks which will usually take care of it. About 5% will need a CA for flutter after a year or so, but that group is mostly comprised of those with multiple prior catheter ablations. Keep in mind that flutter can appear after catheter ablation as well.

Jim

That’s right

Thank you for all of the information. For some reason I was under the impression that the mini maze was performed all over the country, now I see it’s not. I am looking at my options that are local.
Does anyone have info on traditional ablation vs pulses field ablation? It appears the success rate is a bit better with the PFA, and there is less risk of damage to the esophagus and phrenic nerves.
Thank you

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Dini
It appears the success rate is a bit better with the PFA, and there is less risk of damage to the esophagus and phrenic nerves.

Those are the pros of PFA. The cons are that it's limited to PVI ablation at this time. If you have sources of afib outside the pulmonary veins, they will have to use RF to deal with those.