Finding your way through the (mini) Maze

Minimally invasive operations for atrial fibrillation are on the rise. How well they work is up in the air.

In 1987, a St. Louis surgeon created an operation called the Maze that successfully stopped atrial fibrillation, a rapid and uncoordinated beating of the heart's upper chambers that affects more than two million Americans. Since then, surgeons and inventors have been trying to shrink this complex, open-heart operation into a smaller one that is just as effective but easier on the heart and body.