Treating Atrial Fibrillation — Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a condition that produces rapid and irregular heartbeats, and increases the risk for stroke and death. Treatments for AF include medical therapy, cardiac catheterization ablation or surgery. Ablation and surgery scar areas of heart tissue and can cure AF. Many AF patients in need of heart valve surgery may benefit from an AF procedure to eliminate AF. To find out, 20 centers in the NIH-sponsored Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network enrolled 260 AF patients who also needed mitral-valve surgery. (Up to half of people needing mitral-valve surgery also have AF.) Results were published in the March 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. Study coauthor, Dr. Robert Michler is a principal investigator on this prestigious NIH award. He and coauthor Dr. Joseph DeRose, Jr., of Montefiore Medical Center—Einstein’s University Hospital and academic medical center—and surgeons at other participating centers enrolled the patients to randomly undergo surgical ablation or no ablation (control group). Ablation patients were further randomized to one of two types of ablation. All patients were assessed 6 and 12 months after surgery. Significantly more patients in the ablation group than in the control group were free of AF at both 6 and 12 months (63.2 percent vs. 29.4%). While the two types of ablation proved equally effective, patients who underwent ablation were significantly more likely than control patients to require implantation of a permanent pacemaker. Dr. Michler is professor and chair of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery and of surgery. Dr. DeRose is associate professor of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery.
Posted on: Friday, March 20, 2015