Classical monopolar radiofrequency ablation in treatment of long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation: propensity score matching analysis

The article is devoted to the evaluation of the results of clinical application of penetrating radiofrequency ablation techniques on atrial myocardium.Material and Methods. A total of 298 patients with valvular heart disease complicated with atrial fibrillation were operated. All operations were performed under cardiopulmonary bypass and cardioplegia. The main group consisted of 198 patients who were operated using penetrating technique radiofrequency exposure. The control group consisted of 100 patients who underwent surgery with the use of «classical» monopolar radiofrequency-ablation technique. Both groups did not significantly differ in any parameter before surgery, but to increase confidence in the results, pseudo-randomization was performed using the Propensity score matching technique.Results. Patients with previous heart surgery were excluded during the selection of candidates for the procedure because of the presence of adhesions in the pericardium that did not allow good visualization of the left atrium, sufficient to perform the procedure. Penetrating technique had significantly higher efficiency compared to the «classic» technique in the early and long-term postoperative periods. The efficiency was 93% in the early postoperative period and 88% in the long term. The efficacy of «classical» monopolar procedure was lower: 86 and 68%, respectively.