Radiofrequency ablation as an adjunct to open heart surgery achieved 76.3% freedom from atrial fibrillation and 97.1% overall survival after a mean follow-up of 13.8 months.
Systematic Review (n=451)
Does radiofrequency ablation as an adjunct to cardiac surgery improve freedom from atrial fibrillation in patients with atrial fibrillation?
Radiofrequency ablation performed as an adjunct to open heart surgery appears to be a safe and effective approach to treating atrial fibrillation.
The existing literature regarding radiofrequency ablation for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation was reviewed, analyzing the early and late results. A MEDLINE search supplemented with a manual bibliographic review was performed for all peer-reviewed English language articles regarding the use of radiofrequency ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation. Six studies were identified, with a total of 451 patients. None of the studies was completely randomized. All patients underwent radiofrequency ablation as an adjunct to a variety of cardiac surgical procedures. The hospital mortality rate was 2.7%. The overall survival rate was 97.1%, and freedom from atrial fibrillation was 76.3% +/- 5.1% after a mean follow-up period of 13.8 +/- 1.9 months. It was concluded that radiofrequency ablation should be considered a safe and effective means to cure atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing open heart surgery.
Chiappini et al. (Wed,) conducted a systematic review in Atrial fibrillation (n=451). Radiofrequency ablation was evaluated on Freedom from atrial fibrillation. Radiofrequency ablation as an adjunct to open heart surgery achieved 76.3% freedom from atrial fibrillation and 97.1% overall survival after a mean follow-up of 13.8 months.