James Longoria, MD
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 an overview of this atrial fibrillation patient services provider's atrial fibrillation treatments and background, as well as information about this provider's specialized afib procedures, such as catheter ablation, maze surgery, or the mini maze procedure, and the provider's treatment results, when available. There are also reviews by other afib patients, when available.
Provide a Patient Review List Your Services with Us2800 L Street, Suite 260
Sacramento, California 95816
United States
Phone: 916-452-8291
About
- Medical School: University of Illinois College of Medicine
- Specialty Training: Primary specialty in cardiovascular surgery; secondary specialty in thoracic and vascular surgery, Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgery
- Internship: University of California, Davis - East Bay Surgery Program
- Residency: General Surgery - UC Davis-East Bay, Cardiovascular Surgery – Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and The Children's Hospital of Boston, Harvard Medical School
- Fellowship: Research Fellow, Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplantation, Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, CA
- Certification: American Board of Surgery, American Board of Thoracic Surgery
- Hospital Affiliation: Sutter Medical Center
- Professional Societies: Society of Thoracic Surgeons, Western Thoracic Surgical Association, American College of Surgeons, International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation, American Medical Association, California Medical Association
Atrial Fibrillation Procedures
Atrial fibrillation is treatable by Dr. James Longoria with either the minimally invasive Closed Chest Mini Maze or the Open Maze, which can be performed concomitantly with another open heart operation such as Valve Surgery or Coronary Artery Surgery.
Specialized Procedures
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.
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.