The electrophysiologic basis, surgical development and clinical results of the maze procedure for atrial flutter and atrial fibrillation

After over a decade of experimental and clinical research into the basic mechanisms underlying atrial fibrillation, we were able to develop a surgical procedure that appears to cure the arrhythmia. This surgical procedure has now been applied in 100 patients in our institution and in an aggregate total of approximately 130 patients by surgeons in other institutions, including Drs. McCarthy (Cleveland Clinic), Bonchek and Vazales (Lancaster, Pa.), Damiano (Medical College of Virginia), Laks (UCLA), Hammon (Bowman-Gray), Crawford (Medical University of South Carolina), Morris (Mayo Clinic), Brodman (Albert Einstein), Lawrie (Baylor), Johnson (Sydney), Kosakai and Jsobe (Tokyo), Cheung (Seoul), Landymore (Halifax), Bredikis (Kaunas), Bokeria (Moscow), Jatene (Sau Paulo), Large (London), and Yacoub (London). 37 The surgical results have been excellent, indicating that sophisticated electrophysiologic mapping systems are unnecessary and that the results are not surgeonspecific.