Atrial Fibrillation Services - Specialized Procedures
This page provides information about a featured electrophysiologist, cardiologist, cardiothoracic surgeon, hospital, heart hospital, arrhythmia center, or atrial fibrillation center.
On this page you will find information about this atrial fibrillation patient services provider's specialized atrial fibrillation treatments, such as catheter ablation, maze surgery, or the mini maze procedure, as well as the provider's afib procedure results, if available.
The link back to the Full Profile will take you to a profile of this provider that has background, an overview of the atrial fibrillation treatments provided, and a link to reviews by other afib patients, if available.
James Longoria, M.D.
5301 F Street, Suite 111
Sacramento, California
916-452-8291
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Specialized Procedures and Results
The Closed Chest Mini Maze
A minimally invasive surgical treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, known as the Closed Chest Mini Maze, seeks to cure atrial fibrillation – something it's successful in doing almost 90% of the time – by blocking the abnormal electrical impulses responsible for triggering AF.
Dr. Longoria has conducted the Closed Chest Mini Maze since October 2004.
View webcast of Dr. Longoria's Totally Thoracoscopic Epicardial RF Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation with LAA Exclusion — July 24, 2007
Standard Open Maze Procedure to Cure Afib
If you have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and are scheduled to undergo an open heart operation or open chest surgery, such as Valve Surgery or Coronary Artery Surgery, you might be a good candidate for the standard Open Maze procedure, which like the Closed Chest Mini Maze, has more than a 90% success rate in curing AF.
Unlike the minimally invasive Closed Chest Mini Maze, which utilizes keyhole ports (incisions) to treat those patients with atrial fibrillation with no prior heart surgery, the Open Maze uses the same radiofrequency (RF) energy but can be conducted in just minutes – rather than hours – on patients requiring other heart surgery.
Dr. Longoria has performed the Closed Chest Mini Maze since 2004. Like that procedure, the standard Maze is derived from the Cox Maze III – a "cut-and-sew" procedure that creates a maze of lesions (scar tissue) on the heart, blocking the irregular electrical impulses that contribute to afib. But, rather than cutting into the heart with a scalpel, both the Closed Chest Mini Maze and standard Open Maze utilize bipolar radiofrequency energy to create the maze of scar tissue.
The results are the same: isolation of the pulmonary veins, mapping and subsequent ablation of the nerves around the heart (ganglionic plexi), removal of the heart's left atrial appendage, and creation of a defined pathway for the electrical impulses of the heart to travel. For the majority of patients, the procedure results in a return to a normal sinus rhythm; allows for the discontinuation of drugs such as Coumadin (warfarin); and, reduces the pooling of blood and thus the risk of stroke associated with AF. Dr. Longoria is even able to test the area to ensure that it's no longer capable of triggering irregular impulses prior to closing the chest.
