Catheter ablation is one of the options we offer to our patients with Atrial Fibrillation. During the procedure, small catheters are placed into the patient's veins and arteries in the legs, arm or neck and then passed to the heart. High-frequency electrical impulses are used to stimulate the arrhythmia and then destroy the abnormal tissue causing it.

Surgical ablation, or the simplified Maze procedure, is a much less invasive option from the original Maze procedure. This fairly new surgery is performed through a small incision. The patient's heart continues to beat so there is no need for a heart-lung machine. And in order to make new paths for the electrical current in the heart, heat is delivered by a high intensity focused ultrasound in a device approved by the Food and Drug Administration.