Methods: Between January 2006 and January 2007, consecutive 449 patients who underwent elective coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in our clinic were retrospectively analyzed. The patients were divided in two groups. The first group included 86 patients (58 males, 28 females) who underwent off-pump coronary revascularization, whereas the second group included 363 patients (261 males, 102 females) who underwent coronary revascularization with cardiopulmonary bypass. The incidence of postoperative AF and some perioperative variables in both groups were studied and compared.

Results: The incidence of postoperative AF was 21.4% in cardiopulmonary bypass group and 3.4% in off-pump group. Avoiding cardiopulmonary bypass resulted in a statistically significantly reduction in the incidence of postoperative AF.

Conclusion: The incidence of AF following myocardial revascularization without cardiopulmonary bypass is considerably lower. Our study results suggest that offpump procedure is very effective in reducing the incidence of postoperative AF.