Biatrial maze procedure versus pulmonary vein isolation for atrial fibrillation during mitral valve surgery: New analytical approaches and end points.

Objective: To use novel statistical methods for analyzing the effect of lesion set on (long-standing) persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network trial of surgical ablation during mitral valve surgery (MVS).

Methods: Two hundred sixty such patients were randomized to MVS + surgical ablation or MVS alone. Ablation was randomized between pulmonary vein isolation and biatrial maze.