Atrial Fibrillation
Atrial Fibrillation - The Current Evolution
Imagine that everything you've heard about atrial fibrillation is wrong and start over. Some people think afib only affects 2.2 to 2.5 million people in America. Think again. The Mayo Clinic published statistics in 2006 that more accurately estimates 5.1 million Americans are currently affected with AF, and that number will triple by 2050. Many people, including doctors, think AF is a benign heart arrhythmia. Think again. Atrial fibrillation increases your risk of stroke 5 fold, 15% of all stroke victims have AF, and 6 times as many people with congestive heart failure have AF. Most people, including cardiologists and electrophysiologists, believe that AF can only be treated with medications or catheter ablation procedures. Learn the truth. Surgical ablation procedures have cured patients with atrial fibrillation in over 90% of all cases.
There is one certainty with atrial fibrillation: the sooner you seek surgical treatment, the better your chances are for curing your AF. Start over, think again, and learn the truth. The mini-maze closed chest surgical ablation procedure is the one clear choice for curing atrial fibrillation. Dr. David Affleck of Western Cardiovascular Associates surgically restructures and remodels the pathways of irregular electrical impulses in the heart that cause atrial fibrillation. Whether you live in Salt Lake City, Ogden, or Utah Valley, or anywhere in the country, contact Western Cardiovascular Associates online or call us at 801-743-4750 today.
What Is Atrial Fibrillation?
Afib is the most common cardiac arrhythmia around the world. During any cardiac arrhythmia, your heart's rhythm is disrupted causing abnormal contractions of the heart muscle. Atrial fibrillation is a unique cardiac arrhythmia that directly affects the upper chambers of the heart.
Atrial fibrillation occurs when irregular electrical impulses initiated in the left atrium disrupt the precision of cardiac conduction. As these electrical impulses move across both atria, they cause erratic, fast, fluttery contractions which disrupt proper full contractions of the atria. Not only is the atria unable to contract as a whole chamber, which significantly reduces its ability to pump blood into the ventricles, but the rapidity of the atria's contractions interferes with the precise rhythm between the atria and the ventricles. The rhythm of the ventricles tends to be much slower than the atria during atrial fibrillation, which distinguishes atrial fibrillation from atrial tachycardia and atrial flutter.
With all four of the heart's chambers affected, the pumping action of the entire heart is compromised. As less blood is effectively pumped through the heart, less oxygenated blood reaches the body's other organs. This can cause a kind of hypoxia in which dizziness, fainting and shortness of breath occurs. Without a sufficient pumping action, the blood can pool initiating the most critical aspect of atrial fibrillation which is the risk of atrial thrombosis and systemic arterial embolism that can lead to stroke.
Change Your Mind, Cure Your Heart
If you're not convinced that mini-maze closed chest procedure is the best option to cure atrial fibrillation, read this site. Understand the difference between the types of atrial fibrillation and how medical and surgical classifications of AF affect your treatment options. Knowing the causes of AF will help you understand why surgery is so effective and medical management is not. Learn how doctors diagnose AF, and why early diagnosis is the key to a successful surgical outcome.
You may already know what it means to be living with AF but you may not understand the risks and limitations of medical management and anticoagulation therapies. Whether you choose to remain on medical management or if you decide that surgery is your best option, there are plenty of atrial fibrillation resources that we recommend for further information and help coping with this disease.
Searching for a cure is of the highest priority for Dr. Affleck and his colleagues. Because Dr. David Affleck is a pioneer in minimally invasive closed chest surgical ablation procedures, he has one of the highest cure rates in the country.
Dr. Affleck can cure atrial fibrillation in over 90% of his patients because he trained at Washington University in St. Louis where the Maze procedure was developed. He specializes in the surgical treatment of arrythmias including both "closed chest" as well as open heart approaches. Dr. Affleck trains other surgeons in the mini-maze technique, and he has performed this procedure on more patients than any other surgeon in the western United States.
Pursue your surgical options. Contact Western Cardiovascular Associates online or call us at 801-743-4750 today.