Early and mid-term results of irrigated radiofrequency left atrial ablation in chronic atrial fibrillation with concomitant mitral valvular pathology

Levent Yılık,

Levent Yılık¹, Kıvanç Bayatlı¹, Banu Lafcı¹, Bilgin Emrecan¹, Mert Kestelli¹, Cengiz Özbek¹, Nagihan Karahan², Ali Gürbüz¹

¹Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, İzmir Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, İzmir
²Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, İzmir Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, İzmir

Background: Mid-term results of radiofrequency (RF) left atrial ablation in patients undergoing mitral valve surgery were evaluated in the present study.

Methods: Thirty two patients (12 males, 20 females; mean age 45.2±10.9 years; range 19 to 65) were operated for chronic atrial fibrillation in conjunction to mitral valve disease between May 2002 and February 2005. All patients had onset of chronic atrial fibrillation at least 1 year prior to surgical intervention. RF ablation and mitral valve surgery was performed to all of the patients.

Results: The recovery of sinus rhythm (SR) was 84.3% on the first postoperative day, 90.6% on discharge and 78.1% 6 months after the surgery.

Conclusion: The modified Maze III procedure with RF is safe and effective. Maintenance of the sinus rhythm is as high as the conventional surgical procedure.

Keywords : Atrial fibrillation; catheter ablation; mitral valve

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