JTCS Click here to go to SJM website.
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 Similar articles in PubMed
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):
Adam E. Saltman
Right arrow Permission Requests
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Saltman, A. E.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Saltman, A. E.
Related Collections
Right arrow Cardiac - physiology
Right arrow Electrophysiology - arrhythmias
Right arrow Minimally invasive surgery
Right arrowRelated Article

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2006;132:224-225
© 2006 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Editorial

Must we cross the wall to get to the other side?

Adam E. Saltman, MD, PhD *

University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Worcester, Mass.

Received for publication March 31, 2006; accepted for publication April 11, 2006.

* Address for reprints: Adam E. Saltman, MD, PhD, Director, CT Surgery Research, Co-Director, AF Center, Maimonides Medical Center, 4802 Tenth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11219. (Email: asaltman@maimonidesmed.org).

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

GoIn this issue of the Journal, Melby and colleagues 1 Go present a preclinical study of microwave radiation used to ablate the atrium of the beating heart. It is the first article to address the important issue of ablation effectiveness when energies are applied to the epicardium of the beating, working heart with a device that lends itself to a minimal-access approach. It is an important initial contribution to our nascent knowledge base, and it is a well-performed study.

There are 2 very important overarching questions raised by this type of research. The first really concerns the future of atrial fibrillation surgery: Can ablative energy sources create truly transmural lesions when used from the epicardium on the beating, filled heart? Fortunately, this is a purely technical question; with the right animal (and perhaps human) models it can be definitively answered. The second question, however, is much more vexing: Are transmural lesions necessary to cure atrial fibrillation? We certainly have an extensive and detailed database gathered over the last 15 years concerning the Maze operation, a procedure that ensured transmurality by virtue of its cut-and-sew lesions; we know the results with that approach. As the field of atrial fibrillation surgery moves to less-destructive and less-invasive methods in a drive to treat more . . . [Full Text of this Article]


Related Article

Epicardial microwave ablation on the beating heart for atrial fibrillation: The dependency of lesion depth on cardiac output
Spencer J. Melby, Andreas Zierer, Scott P. Kaiser, Richard B. Schuessler, and Ralph J. Damiano, Jr
J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 2006 132: 355-360. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 ICVTSHome page
S. K. Balasubramanian, T. Theologou, and I. Birdi
Microwave surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation during off-pump coronary artery surgery using total arterial-Y-grafts: an early experience
Interactive CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery, August 1, 2007; 6(4): 447 - 450.
[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 © 2006 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery.