Robotic-Assisted Surgical Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation Combined With Mitral Valve Surgery.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Data on robotic-assisted surgical atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation in patients undergoing mitral valve (MV) operations are lacking. This study aimed to evaluate early and late outcomes after robotic-assisted ablation of AF combined with MV surgery. METHODS: Between 2007 and 2017, this study enrolled 94 patients (age 53.9 ± 12.7 years; 67 men) undergoing AF ablation by using an argon-based flexible cryoablation system during robotic-assisted MV surgical procedures. Persistent (n = 34, 36.2%) or long-standing persistent (n = 38, 40.4%) AF was present in most patients. Primary valve procedures included isolated mitral repair in 58 patients, isolate mitral replacement in 2 patients, and combined mitral and tricuspid repair in 34 patients. RESULTS: Sixty patients (63.8%) received left-side-only AF ablation, whereas the others (n = 34, 36.2%) received biatrial ablation. The operation times for cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross-clamping were 222.7 ± 57.8 minutes and 134.1 ± 30.4 minutes, respectively. No early death was seen. Major early complications included neurologic injury in 2 patients (2.1%) and low cardiac output syndrome in 2 patients (2.1%). No patients required permanent pacemaker implantation. Early AF occurred in 14 patients (14.9%) during a postablation blanking period (90 days). During a median follow-up of 49.6 months (quartiles 1 to 3 17.2 to 79.4 months, 95.7% complete), there were two late deaths (0.49% per patient-year) and one stroke (0.25% per patient-year). Five-year survival was greater than 96%, and results from largely electrocardiograms showed a low recurrence of AF (2.2% at 1 year, 6.7% at 5 years). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical AF ablation with the use of robotic-assistance in the setting of mitral valve surgery showed excellent safety and favorable long-term clinical outcomes.