Guidelines on the prevention and management of de novo atrial fibrillation after cardiac and thoracic surgery

•This document presents a professional view of evidence-based prevention and treatment of a commonly occurring arrhythmia after heart and chest operations. It was prepared by the Audit and Guidelines Committee of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS).•The document does not deal with the primary planned surgical treatment of paroxysmal or chronic atrial dysrhythmias as a presenting feature, but focuses on patients who develop de novo atrial arrhythmia after surgical intervention in the chest (maze and other ablation procedures are outside the remit of this guideline).•There are several and varied manoeuvres, interventions and drug treatments in current use for this condition. This document reviews all the available evidence for efficacy and safety of these modalities of prevention and treatment and assesses the quality and quantity of the available evidence for each modality in a uniform and structured manner. Based on the available evidence, an algorithm is presented to summarise an acceptable protocol for use in patients having cardiac surgery (the largest sub-group of patients).•The guideline is subject to continuous informal review, if and when new evidence becomes available. The formal review date will be at 5 years from publication (September 2011). © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.