Study population
We retrospectively analyzed 259 consecutive patients who underwent
open-heart surgery with concomitant surgical AF ablation in a tertiary
academic referral center between October 2008 and March 2016. All
patients undergoing open-heart surgery were prospectively registered in
our institutional database, which contains demographics, preoperative
risk factors, echocardiographic characteristics, operative details, and
postoperative complications according to the established Society of
Thoracic Surgeons National Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (STS ACSD)
definition.8 Chronic kidney disease was defined as an
estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of <60 ml/min/1.73
m2 using the Modification of Diet in Renal Disease
equation. We calculated the EuroSCORE II using an online
calculator.9
All patients had follow-up information available for at least 12 months
after surgical AF ablation. Twelve-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and
ambulatory Holter monitoring were retrospectively and manually analyzed
by two electrophysiologists (K.W.H., J.H.C). Ethical approval was
obtained from the Institutional Review Board for conducting this study.