The Mei mini-maze procedure.

Atrial fibrillation is a common clinical arrhythmia with high morbidity and a risk of stroke. The Cox-maze IV procedure that uses radiofrequency energy for ablation is established as an effective way to eliminate atrial fibrillation. Compared to the Cox-maze IV procedure, the video-assisted Wolf mini-maze procedure is associated with reduced surgical trauma, but still requires bilateral thoracotomies, and the ablation line connecting the right and left pulmonary vein isolations cannot be created with a bipolar ablation clamp. We have developed a novel video-assisted mini-maze technique that uses a unilateral (left chest) thoracoscopic approach (the Mei mini-maze procedure).