Treatment of atrial fibrillation in open heart surgery - The potential role of microwave energy

Treatment of atrial fibrillation by creating linear lesions in patients und ergoing heart surgery (mitral valve replacement or coronary bypass grafting ) receives increasing interest. Conventional rhythm surgery require tremend ous operative effort and increases the risks of perioperative complications . For that reason various alternative methods for creating linear lesion ar e under investigation. This paper discusses several techniques for creation of transmural lesions in open heart surgery, e.g. ultra sound ablation, hi gh current DC shocks, laser ablation, cryoablation, radio frequency ablatio n, cooled radio frequency ablation, and microwave ablation.