Surgical Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation in Elderly Patients Undergoing High Risk Cardiac Surgery

Overview

Journal J Cardiothorac Surg

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialties Cardiology & Vascular Diseases
General Surgery
Pulmonary Medicine

Date 2024 Jul 3

PMID 38961377

Authors

Mohammed Mohsin Uzzaman

Imthiaz Manoly

Mohini Pannikkar

Vincenzo Caruso

Maciej Matuszewski

Nicolas Nikolaidis

Stephen Billing

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Evaluating outcomes of concurrent Cox-Maze procedures in elderly patients undergoing high-risk cardiac surgery.

Mehods: We retrospectively identified patients aged over 70 years with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) from 2011 to 2017 who had two or more other cardiac procedures. They were subdivided into two groups: 1. Cox-Maze IV AF ablation. 2. No-Surgical AF treatment. A propensity match score was used to generate a homogeneous cohort and to eliminate confounding variables. Heart rhythm was assessed from Holter reports or 12-lead ECG. Follow-up data was collected through telephone consultations and medical records.

Results: There were 239 patients. Median follow up was 61 months. 70 patients had Cox-Maze IV procedures (29.3%). Demographic, intra- and post-operative outcomes were similar between groups although duration of pre-operative AF was shorter in Cox-Maze group (p = 0.001). There was no significant 30-day mortality difference in propensity matched cohorts (n = 84. P = 0.078). Sinus rhythm at annual and latest follow-up was 84.9% and 80.0% respectively in Maze group - 160 patients (66.9%) were alive at long-term follow-up with good survival outcomes in Cox Maze group. There was a high proportion of patients in NYHA 1 status in Cox-Maze group. No differences observed in freedom from stroke (p = 0.80) or permanent pacemaker (p = 0.33) between the groups.

Conclusions: Surgical ablation is beneficial in elderly patients undergoing high-risk surgery - promoting excellent long-term freedom from AF and symptomatic / prognostic benefits, without added risk. Therefore, surgical risk should not be reason to deny benefits of concomitant AF-ablation.

Clinical Trial Registration: Not required.

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