RNAs and Gene Expression Predicting Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Cardiac Surgery Patients Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is linked with increased morbidity, mortality rate and financial liability. About 20-50% of patients experience POAF after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Numerous review articles and meta-analyses have investigated links between patient clinical risk factors, demographic conditions, and pre-, peri- and post-operative biomarkers to forecast POAF incidence in CABG patients. This narrative review, for the first time, summarize the role of micro-RNAs, circular-RNAs and other gene expressions that have shown experimental evidence to accurately predict the POAF incidence in cardiac surgery patients after CABG. We envisage that identifying specific genomic markers for predicting POAF might be a significant step for the prevention and effective management of this type of post-operative complication and may provide critical perspective into arrhythmogenic substrate responsible for POAF.