JTCS KCI
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Personal Folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Author home page(s):
Richard B. Schuessler
Right arrow Permission Requests
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Schuessler, R. B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Schuessler, R. B.
Related Collections
Right arrowRelated Article

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2004;127:627-628
© 2004 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Editorial

Do we need a map to get through the maze?

Richard B. Schuessler, PhDa,*

a Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, St Louis, Mo, USA

Received for publication November 3, 2003; revisions received November 10, 2003; accepted for publication November 11, 2003.

* Address for reprints: Richard B. Schuessler, PhD, Cardiothoracic Surgery Research, Box 8234, 3308 CSRB, 660 S Euclid, St Louis, MO 63110, USA
schuesslerr@msnotes.wustl.edu

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.


See related article on page 770.

 

The procedure for the surgical ablation of accessory pathways in Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome, originally developed and performed by Will Sealy and John Boineau, established the paradigm for cardiac arrhythmia surgery.1,2 In that procedure, identification of the pathway was accomplished by intraoperative mapping.3 Originally, this required sequential recordings preformed with a single handheld electrode. Cox and associates4 further refined the technique by using a computerized multichannel mapping system that permitted the recording of electrograms from multiple sites simultaneously. Not only did these studies facilitate the treatment of the WPW syndrome, but they also provided insight into the basic electrophysiologic mechanisms underlying the arrhythmia. The combined insight into mechanism and the practical experience gained from intraoperative mapping allowed cardiologists to develop ablation and catheter techniques to perform the procedure less invasively. The net result is that the curative treatment of WPW is now routinely performed with a high efficacy and very low morbidity and mortality. Other cardiac arrhythmias, including focal atrial tachycardia, atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, atrial flutter, and ventricular tachycardia, followed the same paradigm.5,6

When we developed a procedure to surgically treat atrial fibrillation (AF), it was preceded by extensive mapping studies in both animals and humans.7,8 The intention was to follow . . . [Full Text of this Article]


Related Article

Concurrent multiple left atrial focal activations with fibrillatory conduction and right atrial focal or reentrant activation as the mechanism in atrial fibrillation
Takashi Nitta, Yosuke Ishii, Yasuo Miyagi, Hiroya Ohmori, Shun-ichiro Sakamoto, and Shigeo Tanaka
J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2004 127: 770-778. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]





HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
ANN THORAC SURG ASIAN CARDIOVASC THORAC ANN EUR J CARDIOTHORAC SURG
J THORAC CARDIOVASC SURG ICVTS ALL CTSNet JOURNALS
Copyright © 2004 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery.