Surgical Treatment Of Atrial Fibrillation: History And Current Situation

Atrial fibrillation(AF)is the most prevalent cardiac arrhythmia in modern clinical practice,with an estimated prevalence of 0.77% in our country.Stroke is the most serious complication of atrial fibrillation and has a high mortality rate.So the treatment of atrial fibrillation is particularly important.Surgical procedures for the treatment of atrial fibrillation have also been greatly developed,especially for those who need to do other cardiac surgery,or those who are difficult to treat with drugs and catheter ablation.Since the emergence of the cox-maze III surgery,there have been a number of other modern variants that include the use of different energies(maze IV)such as radiofrequency,cryo-energy,microwave,ultrasound,laser,and minimally invasive thoracoscopic surgery.Another new method of introduction is hybrid ablation surgery,that is,by the cardiac surgeon and cardiologist at the same time with thoracoscopic epicardial ablation and endocardial catheter ablation.The best surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation,the choice of energy,are still controversial.The purpose of this article is to make a systematic review of the history,classification,pathophysiology and current surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation.