• H T Sie, W P Beukema, A R Ramdat Misier, A Elvan, J J Ennema, and H J Wellens.
• Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Ziekenhuis De Weezenlanden, Groot Wezenland 20, 8011 JW Zwolle, The Netherlands. hauwsie@worldonline.nl
• Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2001 Apr 1;19(4):443-7.

ObjectivePatients with mitral valve disease and suffering of atrial fibrillation of more than 1 year's duration have a low probability of remaining in sinus rhythm after valve surgery alone. Intraoperative radiofrequency ablation was used as an alternative to simplify the surgical maze procedure.MethodsSeventy-two patients with mitral valve disease, aged 63+/-11 years ranging from 31 to 80 years, underwent valve surgery and radiofrequency energy applied endocardially, based on the maze III procedure to eliminate the arrhythmia. The right-sided maze was performed on the beating heart and the left-sided maze during aorta cross-clamping.ResultsSurgical procedures included mitral valve repair (n=38) or replacement (n=34) and in addition tricuspid valve repair (n=42), closure of an atrial septal defect (n=2) and correction of cor triatriatum (n=1). The left-sided maze needed 14+/-3 min extra ischemic time. There were two in-hospital deaths (2.7%) and three patients (4.2%) died during follow-up of 20+/-15 months. Among 67 surviving patients, 51 patients (76%) were in sinus rhythm, two patients (3%) had an atrial rhythm and eight patients (12%) had persistent atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter. Four patients had a pacemaker implanted, in one patient because of sinus node dysfunction. Doppler echocardiography in 64 patients demonstrated right atrial contractility in 89% and left atrial transport in 91% of patients.ConclusionsIntraoperative radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation is an effective and less invasive alternative for the original maze procedure to eliminate atrial fibrillation.

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