Maze Surgery

This innovative videoscopic treatment offers a surgical remedy for atrial fibrillation ("a-fib") without opening the chest or stopping the heart. Using micro-Maze techniques, Pilla Heart Center cardiac surgeons gain access to the heart in a minimally invasive way through three one-centimeter "keyhole" incisions on each side of the patient's chest.

Our surgeons conduct Maze surgery with a tiny video camera that helps guide the instruments. With the video assistance, they insert a bendable probe through the side of the chest and around the pulmonary veins. The probe burns tiny "scars" on the heart in a maze-like pattern. These scars creates lesions that block the electrical impulses causing  the patient's heart to beat erratically.

Patients are ready to go home from Maze surgery in three to four days as opposed to more than a week for traditional heart surgery.

For expertise on Maze surgery, contact the specialists at Abington’s Pilla Heart Center, including the Heart Rhythm Center, and Cardiothoracic Surgery.