Atrial fibrillation early postoperatively following minimally invasive cardiac valvular surgery

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common complication of cardiac valvular surgery performed through a traditional midline sternotomy (TMS).(1-3) The minimally invasive procedure (MIP) for cardiac surgery is an innovative operative approach performed through a smaller incision that offers the potential advantages of less pain, reduced morbidity, and shorter hospital stays.(4-9) Because of the apparent differences between the MIP and the TMS techniques of cardiac valvular surgery, our objective was to compare the prevalence of postoperative AF between the 2 procedures.