Long-Term Results of Surgical Atrial Fibrillation Radiofrequency Ablation: Comparison of Two Methods.

BACKGROUND: This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the long-term results of two kinds of surgical atrial fibrillation radiofrequency ablations in concomitant cardiac operations.

METHODS: We enrolled 129 patients from January 2006 to December 2015 and performed cardiac operations concomitantly with surgical atrial fibrillation. The patients were divided into a biatrial MAZE group (94 patients) and a left atrial MAZE group (35 patients). A preoperative baseline was compared with intraoperative and postoperative data. Similarly, complications and follow-up results were compared. A matching process based on propensity-score was performed to equalise the potential prognostic factors in both groups and to formulate a balanced 2:1 matched cohort study.

RESULTS: There were four deaths (4.3%) in the biatrial MAZE group and one death in left atrial MAZE group due to multiple organ failures followed by low cardiac output. No permanent pacemaker implantations were used in either group. The sinus rhythm maintenance rates at the 6-month, 1-year, 6-year and 8-year follow-ups between the biatrial MAZE group and the left atrial MAZE group were not significantly different (84.7%, 83.3%, 67.3%, and 58.8% vs. 84.9%, 77.4%, 61.1%, and 50%, p>0.05). Similarly, between the propensity-score matched groups, there were no significant differences.

CONCLUSION: The left atrial MAZE ablation for the patients with mitral valve diseases who needed open cardiac operation was safe and effective when compared with the biatrial MAZE ablation group.