Surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation; a systematic review.

Unlabelled: In this review the efficacies of the alternative sources of energy (radiofrequency-microwave and cryo ablation; group I) and the classical 'cut and sew' Cox-Maze III (group II), which claims a 97-99% sinus rhythm (SR) success rate, were evaluated in the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). A computerized search in the PubMed and Medline database was conducted. Only original, English written, clinical manuscripts on the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation using an alternative source of energy or the classical 'cut and sew' Cox-Maze III technique, citing the clinical outcome, including the postoperative sinus rhythm, were included.