Single center experience and approach evolution of multidisciplinary therapy for atrial fibrillation / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

@#Objective To investigate the preliminary experience, the evolution of surgical approach of multidisciplinary therapy for atrial fibrillation and the advantages and disadvantages of each procedure. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 69 patients with stand-alone surgical ablation with or without transcatheter radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation in our center from January 2015 to May 2017. There were 50 males and 19 females at average age of 57.2 years. The patients were divided into three groups according to the surgical approach including a median sternotomy group (n=9), a left unilateral thoracoscopy group (n=7) and a bilateral thoracoscopy group (n=53). One (11.1%) patient, 3 (42.9%) patients and 26 (49.1%) patients received transcatheter mapping and radiofrequency ablation after surgical ablation in each group, respectively. Results The mean follow-up time in the median sternotomy group was 10.2 months. All 9 patients maintained sinus rhythm. The mean follow-up time of the left unilateral thoracoscopy group was 7.4 months. Five (71.4%) patients maintained sinus rhythm. While the mean follow-up time of the bilateral thoracoscopy group was 5.0 months. Forty-seven (88.7%) patients maintained sinus rhythm. There was no perioperative death, or death, stroke, major bleeding nor pulmonary vein stenosis during follow-up. Conclusion The classic Cox-Maze Ⅳ procedure with high success rate is still the basic operation for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation, while the thoracoscopic mini maze procedure has the advantages of minimally invasiveness, repeatibility, and can achieve similar results as Cox-Maze Ⅳ procedure when combined with transcatheter radiofrequency ablation. Multidisciplinary therapy could be the best solution for non-paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.