Clinical significance and postoperative outcomes after pulmonary vein isolation for atrial fibrillation in mitral valve surgery

Atrial fibrillation is the most common tachyarrhythmia associated with mitral valve disease, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Atrial fibrillation is a marker of advanced cardiovascular disease and an independent predictor of death. As a large number of patients undergoing mitral valve operations are associated with chronic atrial fibrillation, pulmonary vein isolation procedure with cut and sew method can be concomitantly performed with a mitral valve operation and it is enough to improve the quality of life after operation by eliminating the morbidity associated with chronic atrial fibrillation. The aim of this study is to find out the immediate postoperative outcomes of the patients with known mitral valve disease with atrial fibrillation who are undergoing mitral valve surgery with concomitant pulmonary vein isolation at our institution. The perioperative risk factors such as older age, duration of atrial fibrillation, the size of the left atrium, and the mitral valve pathology were evaluated for their clinical significance. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative variables were retrieved and analyzed retrospectively. The outcomes were compared between these subgroups using various statistical tools. Conversion to normal sinus rhythm was more significant in the younger age group (<45 years) as compared to the older age group. Seventy-eight percent patients ( n = 117) were free from atrial fibrillation at the time of discharge. The overall mortality was 4% ( n = 6). There was no procedure-related death.