SURGICAL-TREATMENT OF ATRIAL-FIBRILLATION

Surgical Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation. Surgical therapy has been a pplied in the treatment of atrial fibrillation for almost two decades, At present, the most commonly used approach is the maze operation dev eloped by Cox. In this operation, atrial fibrillation is prevented by critically located incisional lines. Currently, these lines also are d rawn during operation using cryoablation or radiofrequency current. To document the value of the maze operation, randomized studies, not onl y on arrhythmia prevention but also on atrial transport function and t hromboembolic complications, should be performed.