NORMAL QUALITY OF LIFE AFTER THE COX MAZE PROCEDURE FOR ATRIAL FIBRILLATION.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Atrial fibrillation(AF) has been shown in numerous studies to significantly decrease patient quality of life. The Cox-Maze procedure has excellent long-term efficacy in curing AF. However, it is unknown whether this procedure improves long-term quality of life in these patients. The purpose of this study was to examine late quality of life in patients that underwent a lone Cox-Maze procedure.  METHODS: Between 1987 and 2003, 163 patients underwent a Cox-Maze procedure for lone AF at our institution. Of these, 68 patients agreed and completed the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36 Health Survey. Scores from the age-matched general US population were normalized to a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10 to facilitate comparison. Collected data were compared to the norm-based score for each domain using a one-sample t-test. Four patients were removed from analysis because of AF recurrence.  RESULTS: There were 52 males(81%). Mean age was 52.6±9.5 years. Preoperatively, 37 patients(58%) had paroxysmal and 25 patients(39%) had persistent or permanent AF. The mean duration of AF before surgery was 9.8±8.2 years. There was no statistical difference in norm-based scores between the Cox-Maze procedure group and the age-matched general US population in any of the eight health domains at a mean follow-up of 8.7±3.7 years.  CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that the Cox-Maze procedure cures atrial fibrillation in the majority of patients, and that those patients that are cured obtain a normal quality of life as compared to the general population at late follow-up.
Melby
Spencer J
SJ
Washington University School of Medicine, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery.
Zierer
Andreas
A
Lubahn
Jordon G
JG
Bailey
Marci S
MS
Cox
James L
JL
Schuessler
Richard B
RB
Damiano
Ralph J
RJ