What to Expect During Mini-Maze Surgery
What should you expect during Mini-Maze surgery? We're not holding back. You need unbiased information — good and bad — to help you decide and prepare for what you'll experience.
The information about what to expect is from patients who have had Mini-Maze surgery. Your surgeon can tell you what to expect, but it's different when it's actually being done to you. Only someone who has actually experienced a Mini-Maze surgery can give you the personal insights. Even some surgeons may not know some of these things, so feel free to pass these "what to expect" pages along to your surgeon.
The founder of StopAfib.org had Mini-Maze surgery to eliminate her irregular heartbeats and heart palpitations and especially to get off of Coumadin®. She checked into the hospital at 6AM the morning of her surgery, and as instructed had no makeup or jewelry. Once back in the prep area, she changed into one of those infernal hospital gowns, and her shoes and clothes went into a bag that she gave to her husband.
Next, the IV — with her tiny blood vessels, that was a challenge, but was finally accomplished — and the anesthesia was started. That's about all that she remembers, until she woke up in her hospital room later that same day.
Having Mini-Maze surgery takes just a few hours, usually 2–4 hours. Unlike open-heart surgery, which requires a large chest incision, Mini-Maze only requires three small incisions on each side of the body for accessing both sides of the heart. One incision is for the surgical instruments, one is for the ablation device, and one is for the endoscope. The endoscope lets the surgeon view the outer (epicardial) surface of the heart. The ablation device lets the surgeon apply energy to the pulmonary veins and elsewhere, such as nerve bundles called ganglionic plexi, to block the conduction of the erratic electrical signals to the heart.
During the procedure, the left atrial appendage — an ear-shaped flap considered to be the source of most blood clots responsible for strokes in afib patients — is also removed and the tissue is closed with a stapling device. For most patients we talked with, removal of the left atrial appendage was a big deal, allowing them to feel confident that they were no longer at high risk of blood clots and stroke after their surgery.
To learn more, see What to Expect After Mini-Maze Surgery.
