Intermediate to long-term results of radiofrequency modified Maze procedure as an adjunct to open-heart surgery.

Background: Of patients scheduled for elective open heart surgery, a substantial number of patients have preoperative atrial fibrillation (AF). The cut-and-sew Maze procedure and variant Maze procedures abolish AF in 45% to 95% during short- to intermediate-term follow-up. Limited data are available about maintenance of sinus rhythm during intermediate- to long-term follow-up. The objective of the present study was to assess the association between postoperative rhythm and mortality and stroke.

Methods: From November 1995 to November 2003, 258 patients with structural heart disease and permanent AF with a duration of longer than 12 months were scheduled for elective cardiac surgery and included in a registry. They underwent a radiofrequency modified Maze procedure as an adjunct to the open heart operation. Patients were followed in the outpatient clinic, and follow-up data were obtained from medical correspondence of attending physicians. For this paper, follow-up ended November 2006; however, patients are being followed in an ongoing registry.

Results: Two hundred fifty-eight patients (mean age, 68.1 +/- 9.5 years) with permanent AF underwent cardiac surgical procedures and concomitant radiofrequency Maze surgery; 213 patients (82.5%) underwent more than one procedure. Mean duration of permanent AF was 66.6 +/- 69.8 months (range, 16 to 96). Preoperatively, 82.9% of patients were in New York Heart Association class III. In-hospital mortality was 3.9% (10 patients), and during a mean follow-up of 43.7 +/- 25.9 months (range, 27 to 114), 73 patients (28.3%) died. Left ventricular ejection fraction was normal in 44.6%, moderately decreased in 42.5%, and poor in 12.9% of patients. Sustained sinus rhythm, including atrial rhythm or an atrial-based paced rhythm was present in 69% of patients at 1 year, in 56% at 3 years, in 52% at 5 years, and in 57% of patients at the latest follow-up. Antiarrhythmic drugs were used by 64% of survivors who were free of atrial fibrillation. Oral anticoagulation therapy was taken by 99% of patients. Stroke was reported in 4 patients (1.6%).

Conclusions: The RF modified Maze procedure abolishes AF in the majority of patients with structural heart disease and longstanding permanent AF. Postoperative rhythm was not predictive of all-cause mortality, cardiac mortality, and stroke, neither in the whole group nor in the subgroups defined by preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction and New York Heart Association class. The stroke rate was very low in this group with longstanding AF.