Considering that up to 20% of ischemic strokes are associated with atrial fibrillation (AFib), it can be a “missed opportunity” if a surgeon elects not to treat AFib during cardiac cases for heart valve and/or coronary artery disease.

Surgeons who practice the concomitant treatment of atrial fibrillation may identify the appropriate lesion set on a case-by-case basis. For example, Dr. Katherine Harrington, a cardiac surgeon who specializes in the treatment of thoracic aortic disease…

Despite an 84% success rate while utilizing surgical ablation, as demonstrated in the ABLATE trial, atrial fibrillation is still undertreated in concomitant settings. Surgical ablation was promoted to a Class 1 recommendation by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons in 2017, however, the undertreatment remains.

Some surgeons, however, have seen remarkable success utilizing surgical ablation in concomitant cases including heart valve repair/replacement and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). For example, Dr. Husam Balkhy specializes in the concomitant treatment of atrial fibrillation and has experienced a 15-year success story at The University of Chicago Medicine as the Director of Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery. In his career, Dr. Balkhy…

Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) is quickly transitioning from a disease to a worldwide epidemic.  According to the American Heart Association, the number of new AFib patients will increase 300% to 12.1 million cases by 2030 in the United States alone.

To better understand how AFib is impacting patients, we interviewed Dr. Richard Shemin, the Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and Chairman of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UCLA Health in Los Angeles, California.  During his incredible career, Dr. Shemin has performed over 10,000 cardiac surgeries…

Dr. Kevin Accola is a board-certified thoracic surgeon who has been practicing for over 20 years at AdventHealth in Orlando, Florida. During his incredible career, Dr. Accola has performed over 14,000 cardiac surgeries of which 8,000 involved heart valve procedures.

Dr. Accola specializes in mitral valve repair techniques and the treatment of atrial fibrillation during concomitant procedures leveraging surgical ablation.

Dr. Patrick McCarthy is the Executive Director of the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute at Northwestern Medicine, the #7 ranked cardiology and heart surgery program according to U.S. News & World Report. Specific to atrial fibrillation (AFib), Dr. McCarthy has a 30-year experience treating AFib using the Maze procedure. At Northwestern Medicine, Dr. McCarthy has built a nationally recognized team and health care destination for patients requiring highly specialized treatment of atrial fibrillation.

As featured in The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Dr. McCarthy published new research on the prevalence of atrial fibrillation before cardiac surgery and the under-treatment of AFib during concomitant procedures including mitral valve…