Surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation using radiofrequency

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of intraoperative atrial fibrillation ablation using radiofrequency during mitral valve procedure. This report describes the early and midterms results. Methods: Between September 2003 and September 2005, 15 patients with mitral disease were operated. All patients were in cronic atrial fibrillation and with congestive symptoms despite full medication. The patients were analysed according to clinical criteria, electrical and echocardiographic findings. Results: There were no hospital mortality or complications related to radiofrequency ablation. The mean follow-up period was 12.16 +/- 10.29 months. All patients left operating room in sinus rhythm, however, before hospital discharge, only nine (60%) were in regular cardiac rhythm. During follow-up, two patients presented atrial fibrillation recurrence and currently seven (46.7%) keep sinus rhythm. Conclusion: Despite low morbimortality related to the procedure, initial results in this report showed a less effectiveness of this technique when compared with other papers.