Study suggests atrial fibrillation should be surgically treated when performing cardiac surgery

Successfully treating heart rhythm disorder improves long-term survival for cardiac surgery patients with atrial fibrillation

A recent study conducted by Northwestern Medicine® researchers published in the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, reveals that patients with an abnormal heart rhythm known as atrial fibrillation (A-fib) who are undergoing cardiac surgery, have a lower long-term survival rate compared with patients who are in sinus rhythm, which is the normal beating of the heart. The data also suggests that when surgeons successfully treat A-fib during the previously planned cardiac surgery, the patients’ survival rate levels out and becomes the same as someone who never had A-fib.

“This study indicates that atrial fibrillation should be surgically treated when a patient is undergoing another cardiac surgery procedure,” said Richard Lee, MD, surgical director of the Center for Heart Rhythm Disorders at Northwestern Memorial’s Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute. “By fixing two issues at once, we can improve patient outcomes.”

Currently, only 38 percent patients with A-fib receive simultaneous treatment at the time of cardiac surgery. At the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, 90 percent of patients with a history of A-fib are treated when they undergo cardiac surgery. Read More