The Maze Procedure is a form of open-heart surgery which is used to help the heart achieve a normal rhythm by correcting the path of the electrical impulses used to tell the heart when to contract. Before we look at the procedure and how it can help you, we should first take a look at how the heart is built and what actually makes your ticker "tick".

You can picture the heart as two sets of chambers; two larger chambers sit on top of two smaller ones. The upper chambers are known as atria (atrium if singular) and they have the job of collecting blood in from the veins and lungs which have been freshly oxygenated and is now ready to be pumped back around the body. When the atrium contracts, it is forcing this collected blood into the smaller ventricle which sits immediately underneath it, the ventricle then contracts powerfully and this sends the blood back out of the heart and on its journey around the body once more.

The ventricles contract at a regular rate which is set but the upper atria need an electrical impulse to tell them when to contract. The electrical signal originates at the Sinoatrial node, or SA Node for short, and this is the heart's natural pacemaker, with the electrical impulse travelling across the atria and terminates at the Atrioventricular Node (or AV Node for short). When the signal is not being generated properly, due perhaps to disease of the SA Node, or the electrical signal is being disrupted because of disease of the heart muscle and surrounding tissues, a condition known as Atrial Fibrillation may result.

Atrial fibrillation is where the atrium does not beat properly and the heart becomes uncoordinated; blood may not be passed from the atrium into the ventricle when it needs to be and may pool within the heart leading to blood clots and a higher risk of stroke for the sufferer. Symptoms may include dizzy spells, fainting, palpitations and chest pain which of themselves are not life threatening, but atrial fibrillation may lead to more serious cardiac conditions such as congestive heart failure. Quality of life may also be significantly impaired though many sufferers are not aware they have the condition to begin with.

The Maze Procedure sets out to correct the lack of heart coordination caused by a failure in the electrical impulse and the path it must take across the heart. By making a series of incisions upon the atrium, a path is created for the electrical signal to follow - the incisions are stitched up and their purpose is to form a barrier which the electrical impulse is unable to cross. The finished procedures results in an atrium with a series of scars which resemble a maze and this is how the operation gained its name.

The Maze Procedure has a very high success rate though it is open heart surgery and is a serious operation. The results for sufferers are very good with restored quality of life as well as preventing deterioration in the condition or leading to more serious, potentially life threatening conditions.