The results of surgical treatment of patients with coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation

The article highlights the problem of treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with ischemic heart disease requiring direct myocardial revascularization. Although there is a growing number of surgical interventions for AF correction during coronary artery bypass grafting, two thirds of patients do not receive treatment. The objective of this prospective single center study was to compare a conventional method with combined two-step approach in treatment of this group of patients. The study showed that adding catheter radiofrequency ablation increases the effectiveness and does not affect the perioperative mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation and ischemic heart disease requiring coronary artery bypass grafting.