Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation: The Robotic Cryo-Maze

The Cox-Maze III operation is the gold standard in the treatment of atrial fibrillation. With the advent of different energy sources (radiofrequency, microwave, and cryothermy) and less invasive approaches (i.e. minimally invasive access and different lesion sets) have been tried at different centers with lesser rates of sinus rhythm restoration when compared to the Cox-Maze III. At our institution we have attempted to reproduce the Cox-Maze III without sacrificing the lesion set while combining the robot assisted minimal access techniques with early results similar to the Cox-Maze III procedure.