A Fib Surgery Center
St. Vincent’s Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery is among the first hospitals in Connecticut to perform surgery to correct atrial fibrillation (A Fib), also known as a rapid or irregular heartbeat, strictly through the use of endoscopes, or instruments that allow visual inspection of the thorax or chest cavity. The new surgery, called Thoracoscopic Atrial Fibrillation Surgery, is an advancement on the “mini-maze” procedure, which involves scarring of the heart to inhibit the electrical impulses that initiate A Fib.

This new version of mini-maze has the advantage of being performed endoscopically through four tiny, one-cm key-hole incisions in the spaces between the ribs rather than requiring larger incisions and the spreading of the ribs as in the earlier mini-maze. Tiny incisions mean less pain, smaller scars, shorter hospital stay and a quicker return to normal activity.

The procedure takes about three hours with a hospital stay of two to three days.  Drs. Rafael Squitieri and Albert DiMeo, our cardiothoracic surgeons, perform this minimally invasive surgery.

Untreated A Fib is a primary cause of heart attack and stroke. The success rates at St. Vincent’s for the new procedure have been among the highest in the nation.

The surgery offers hope to patients for whom medication has not been effective or who cannot tolerate it, and for those who may not have been helped by earlier procedures.

For more information on the latest minimally invasive surgery to correct A Fib or other cardiac problems, please contact the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at St. Vincent’s Medical Center at (203) 576-5788.