Maze

Maze [meiz] is a cardiac surgery perfromed to remove supraventricular arrhythmias. Its goal is to exclude those areas of the atria where is a re-entry of the most common causes of atrial fibrillation. Maze in its classical form consists of a series of precisely localized incisions in the wall of the atria that create a " maze-like " (maze) appearance of scars that interrupt the formation and conduction of abnormal excitations.

Currently, mini-invasive methods are used for this proedure (they do not require a medial sternotomy, cardiopulmonary bypass, they allow the operation to be performed on a beating heart). The so-called mini-maze methods use smaller sections, radio frequency, microwave, ultrasonic energy or cryoablation method. Cryoablation uses special cryoprobes with very low temperatures (−100 to −150 °C), which destroy the cells responsible for arrhythmias. The tissue of the atria of the heart is then permeated with several lines of non-conductive scars, which allow only a single pathway to transfer excitement through the atria. Such elimination of the cause of arrhythmias is usually permanent. Thanks to this method, patients are not dependent on drugs and their long-term survival increases.

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