If you arrived to this website looking for information on Atrial Fibrillation, you will find some here and in this article.

Prevention of Stroke in Atrial Fibrillation;
Elimination of the Left Atrial Appendage.
An online educational video.

Randall, K. Wolf MD, FACS, FACC

This video educational program is hosted by the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center Education Center

Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is estimated to affect up to 4% of the population. Characterized by a rapid, irregular heartbeat, AFib is largely due to abnormal electrical impulses that cause the atria of the heart to quiver instead of beating steadily. Blood flow is reduced and is not completely pumped out of the two small upper chambers of the heart, the atria. This negatively impacts cardiac performance and also allows the blood to pool and potentially clot, especially in an extension of the left atrium, the left atrial appendage (LAA). At rest, a normal heart rate is approximately 60 – 100 beats per minute. In a person with AFib, that heart rate can increase to 180 bpm or even higher.

The main concern with AFib and stagnant blood flow in the LAA is the potential for clot formation (thrombus). While this can happen in either atria (right or left) the anatomy of the right atrium and right atrial appendage are less conducive to clot formation. The LAA is exactly the opposite and the clots, should they float into the bloodstream, tend to enter the larger arteries that go towards the head and brain, increasing the chances for a stroke.

In this educational video Dr. Wolf discusses the above, as well as the benefits of the elimination of the LAA, decreasing blood pressure, decreasing the chances of a stroke, and helping return the heart to normal rhythm.

Dr. Wolf is a surgical innovator who since the year 2000 has been a pioneer in the minimally invasive surgical treatment of AFib. He has performed over 2000 Wolf MiniMaze procedures since the first one in 2003 and has demonstrated the procedure to over 800 heart surgeons worldwide. He has been visiting professor in 18 countries, including Oxford University, University of Tokyo and Peking University. Dr. Wolf has delivered hundreds of invited lectures at hospitals, academic meetings and seminars in the United States and abroad.

Dr. Wolf is currently a member of the DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center at Houston Methodist Hospital in the Texas Medical Center. He serves as the arrhythmia specialist of the group. In 2018 Dr. Wolf operated on AF patients from 32 US states. He was also the keynote speaker at the annual Japanese Society for Tobacco Control in Takamatsu, Japan and the annual Chinese Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons in Shenyang, China.

NOTE: Dr. Randall Wolf is a contributor to Clinical Anatomy Associates. My personal thanks to him and to the DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center for their invitation to participate in this and other educational videos. Dr. Miranda.