Combined mitral valve surgery and the Maze III procedure

Atrial fibrillation is present in approximately 50% of patients undergoing surgery for mitral valve disease. In the past, surgeons were forced to ignore atrial fibrillation when performing open-heart surgery for other indications simply because there was no proper surgical solution and little awareness of the medical consequences of atrial fibrillation. The Maze procedure was introduced in 1987 and when properly performed, its results when combined with mitral valve surgery have been excellent, with no increase in perioperative morbidity and mortality and with documented long-term advantages over simply leaving patients with atrial fibrillation. In this study we evaluated our recent results in 53 patients undergoing mitral valve surgery in combination with the Maze III procedure. Our results indicate that the Maze III procedure is just as safe and effective in controlling atrial fibrillation associated with mitral valve disease as it is in controlling atrial fibrillation not associated with mitral valve disease.