Bart Maesen

Assistant Professor

Bart Maesen studied medicine at the University of Antwerp, Belgium and obtained a research position to conduct research on ischaemia/reperfusion injury following his graduation. Afterwards he moved to Maastricht, the Netherlands. He started his training in cardiothoracic surgery with a 4 -years fellowship at the electrophysiology lab of Prof Uli Schotten in 2006. Based on the research performed in this period, he obtained his PhD with a thesis on structure-function relationships of atrial fibrillation waves in goat and man.

During his surgical traineeship he was trained in arrhythmia surgery by Prof. Mark La Meir. With his understanding of electrophysiology and manual skills, he was soon able to take over the hybrid AF ablation programme and together with interventional electrophysiologist Dr Justin Luermans and with the support of Prof. Harry Crijns, he developed an international highly acclaimed minimally invasive hybrid arrhythmia surgery programme at Maastricht UMC+.

Bart became staff member in 2017 and is currently head of our Arrhythmia Surgery programme. He is setting up a translational research programme with focus on improving outcome in surgical AF management by better understanding of basic mechanisms and concepts. He supervises several PhD students and helps other centers to start their own AF minimally invasive hybrid AF programme.

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery
P. Debyelaan 25, 6229 HX Maastricht
Room number: 3.C2.016

2026
- Kowalewski, M., Smoczynski, R., Ogorzelec, N., Stec, S., Kornaszewska, M., Maesen, B., & Suwalski, P. (2026). State-of-the-Art: Central Europe’s first hybrid unilateral left-sided thoracoscopic MAZE ablation of atrial fibrillation with left atrial appendage occlusion followed by robotic coronary artery bypass LIMA-LAD. Kardiologia Polska, 84(1), 106-107. Article 84508. https://doi.org/10.33963/v.phj.108301
- Aerts, L., Kawczynski, M. J., Luermans, J., Bidar, E., Linz, D., Kowalewski, M., Lorusso, R., Pison, L., La Meir, M., Maesen, B., & Heuts, S. (2026). Effectiveness of Catheter and Standalone Surgical Ablation Procedures for Atrial Fibrillation: A Bayesian-Network Meta-analysis. Canadian Journal of Cardiology, 42(1), 136-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cjca.2025.10.018
2025
- Hertel, J. N., Nissen, S. D., Lindberg, L. A., Schneider, M., Niskala, A., Isaksen, J. L., Jerltorp, K., Ye, C., Hermans, B. J. M., Aerts, L., Maesen, B., Chaldoupi, S.-M., Coffey, K., Reilly, J., O'Brien, B., Jespersen, T., Saljic, A., & Linz, D. (2025). Targeted epicardial pulsed field ablation of atrial ganglionated plexi: Electrophysiological and histologic analysis in pigs. Heart Rhythm, 22(12), 3289-3299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2025.06.016
- Husen, T. F., Vidya, A. P., Heuts, S., Prasetyo, A., Nugroho, A. K. Z., Lorusso, R., Bidar, E., Maesen, B., & Sardari Nia, P. (2025). Comparative Study of Different Minimally Invasive Aortic Valve Replacement Techniques: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis. Interdisciplinary CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery, 40(11), Article ivaf244. https://doi.org/10.1093/icvts/ivaf244
- Aerts, L., Kowalewski, M., & Maesen, B. (2025). Internal Suture Closure of the LAA: Ineffective and out of Date. Interdisciplinary CardioVascular and Thoracic Surgery, 40(11), Article ivaf256. https://doi.org/10.1093/icvts/ivaf256
- Heuts, S., Kawczynski, M. J., Maesen, B., & Vriesendorp, P. A. (2025). When absence of evidence equates to evidence of absence: the case of routine use of cerebral embolic protection devices in transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Heart, 111(20), 947-951. https://doi.org/10.1136/heartjnl-2025-326208
- Kawczynski, M. J., Gilbers, M. D., Winters, J., Maesen, B., Isaacs, A., Linz, D., Rienstra, M., van Gelder, I., Maessen, J. G., Bidar, E., & Schotten, U. (2025). Right atrial endomysial fibrosis is associated with increased postoperative atrial fibrillation burden during 2.5 years of continuous rhythm monitoring after cardiac surgery including atrial arrhythmia surgery: RACE V Tissue Bank Study. EP Europace, 27(9), Article euaf207. https://doi.org/10.1093/europace/euaf207
- Betti, M., Streukens, S. A. F., Kats, S., Maesen, B., Vainer, J., Theunissen, R. A. L. J., van ‘t Hof, A. W. J., & Vriesendorp, P. A. (2025). Mitral Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair for Anterior Leaflet Flail Induced by Transapical Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement. JACC. Case reports, 30(22), Article 104653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaccas.2025.104653
- Farnir, F., Chaldoupi, S.-M., Hermans, B. J., Farnir, F., Habibi, Z., Jerltorp, K., Verhaert, D., Schotten, U., Maesen, B., Vernooy, K., Luermans, J., & Linz, D. (2025). A tailored substrate-based approach using focal pulsed field catheter ablation in patients with atrial fibrillation and advanced atrial substrate: Procedural data and 6-month success rates. Heart Rhythm, 22(8), 1957-1968. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2025.01.015
- Kowalewski, M., Dabrowski, E. J., Kurasz, A., Swieczkowski, M., Raffa, G. M., Kawczynski, M., Aerts, L., Kuzma, L., Wanha, W., Batko, J., Litwinowicz, R., Urbanowicz, T., Stec, S., Lorusso, R., Hanke, T., Maesen, B., Meani, P., Ronco, D., Pilato, M., ... Thoracic Research Centre, endorsed by the ESC Cardiovascular Surgery Working Group (2025). Surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation with concomitant cardiac surgery. A state-of-the-art review. European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, 67(7), Article ezaf187. https://doi.org/10.1093/ejcts/ezaf187

Overview

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Bart Maesen

Assistant Professor