Surgical Ablation of Permanent Atrial Fibrillation: Age, LV Dilatation, Obesity.

Objectives: Although concomitant surgical ablation can help to reach freedom from atrial fibrillation (FREEAF) even in patients with permanent atrial fibrillation (AF), some cardiac surgeons hesitate to perform concomitant ablation to avoid perioperative risk escalation. Here, we investigated outcome and predicators of therapeutic success of concomitant surgical ablation in an all-comers study.

Methods: Ablation-naïve patients with formerly accepted permanent AF (FAP,  = 41) or paroxysmal AF (parAF,  = 24) underwent concomitant epicardial bipolar radio frequency ablation and implantable loop recorder (ILR) at two surgical departments.

The Same is Not the Same: Device Effect during Bipolar Radiofrequency Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation.

Background: Different ablation devices deliver the same type of energy but use individual control mechanisms to estimate efficacy. We compared patient outcome after the application of radiofrequency ablation systems, using temperature- or resistance-control in paroxysmal and persistent atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods: This is an unselected all-comers study.