Subgroup analysis demonstrated similar trends , with higher freedom from AF in the surgical ablation group for paroxysmal AF patients .
The incidence of pacemaker implantation was higher , while no difference in stroke or cardiac tamponade was demonstrated for the surgical versus catheter ablation groups .
Current evidence suggests that epicardial ablative strategies are associated with higher freedom from AF , higher pacemaker implantation rates and comparable neurological complications and cardiac tamponade incidence to catheter ablative treatment .
BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation ( AF ) is an increasingly prevalent condition in the ageing population , with significantly associated morbidity and mortality .
Surgical and catheter ablative strategies both aim to reduce mortality and morbidity through freedom from AF .
This review consoli date s all currently available comparative data to evaluate these two interventions .
Systematic Review Protocol: surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation during mitral valve surgery.
R and omized controlled trials comparing atrial fibrillation patients who underwent concomitant mitral valve surgery and surgical ablation , versus mitral valve surgery alone  , will be included . Six electronic data bases including MEDLINE , EMBASE , PubMed , Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials , Cochrane Data base of Systematic Review s , and Data base of Abstract s of Review s of Effectiveness will be search ed for original published studies . The reference lists of all retrieved articles will be review ed to further identify potentially relevant r and omized controlled studies . Experimental or observational studies will be included in the present review . Only studies in English will be included . Case reports , series with less than ten patients , abstract s , editorials , and expert opinions will be excluded . Two review ers will independently appraise the studies using a st and ard form , and extract data based on methodology , quality criteria , and outcome measures . All data will be extracted and tabulated from the relevant articles ’ texts , tables , and figures and checked by an additional review er . The studies will be assessed qualitatively using tools design ed to measure the risk of bias , as recommended by the Cochrane Collaboration ( Oxford , United Kingdom )
Subgroup analysis demonstrated similar trends , with higher freedom from AF in the surgical ablation group for paroxysmal AF patients .
The incidence of pacemaker implantation was higher , while no difference in stroke or cardiac tamponade was demonstrated for the surgical versus catheter ablation groups .
Current evidence suggests that epicardial ablative strategies are associated with higher freedom from AF , higher pacemaker implantation rates and comparable neurological complications and cardiac tamponade incidence to catheter ablative treatment .
BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation ( AF ) is an increasingly prevalent condition in the ageing population , with significantly associated morbidity and mortality .
Surgical and catheter ablative strategies both aim to reduce mortality and morbidity through freedom from AF .
This review consoli date s all currently available comparative data to evaluate these two interventions .