Short-term results of two strategies in thoracoscopic ablation for lone atrial fibrillation

Background: Thoracoscopic ablation is an effective treatment of patients with atrial fibrillation. Nowadays, 2 types of ablative devices are available in clinical practice allowing one to perform the thoracoscopic procedure — Medtronic and AtriCure. However, the contemporary clinical literature does not have enough data that would compare these two approaches. Aims: to perform a comparative analysis of the shortterm results of two minimally invasive strategies in thoracoscopic ablation for atrial fibrillation. Methods: 232 patients underwent thoracoscopic ablation for atrial fibrillation in two clinical centers for the period from 2016 to August 2021. The patients were divided into 2 groups. The first group was represented by those patients to whom a Medtronic device was applied (n=140), the second group was treated with an AtriCure device (n=92). The patients were comparable in their age, gender, initial severity of the condition. The follow-up consisted of laboratory tests, chest Х-ray, electrocardiography, 24-hour Holter monitor, echocardiography. The structure and prevalence of postoperative and intraoperative complications, specifics of the postoperative period were compared between the two groups. Results: According to the structure and prevalence of intraoperative complications the 2 groups are comparable to each other: 4.3% and 1.1% for the 1st group and 2nd group, respectively (p >0.05). The postoperative complications had developed in 6 (4.3%) and 5 (5.4%) patients in groups 1 and 2, respectively (p >0.05). At the time of discharge from hospital, a sinus rhythm was registered in 93.6% of patients (1st group), and 85.9% (2nd group) (p <0.05). Conclusions: Both strategies have demonstrated comparable short-term results in patients with lone atrial fibrillation. A further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of this strategy in a long-term period.