Simultaneous surgical correction of atrial fibrillation and aortic valve replacement: immediate results after surgery

Aim — To assess the results of simultaneous surgical correction of atrial fibrillation and aortic valve replacement. Materials and Methods — The retrospective analysis was held for the period of 2009-2016 of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and pathology of the aortic valve after combined operations. 68 patients were included in the study, the average age was 56 (51; 64) years; men 53%, women 47%. All patients were in III-IV functional class by NYHA classification. The duration of AF was 34 (24; 58) months. AF: persistent in 70,6%, paroxysmal in 29,4%. Calculated risks comprised: Euro Score II – 3,8 (2,4; 5,6), the risk of in-hospital mortality and the risk of total mortality by Ambler - 5,5 (3; 7,3) and 8 (6; 9), respectively. Results ― The average number of simultaneous procedures per one patient was – 4 (4; 4), minimum – 3, maximum – 5. In 100% cases was performed aortic valve and mitral valve correction and Maze IIIB procedure. CABG was performed in 20,6% of cases and tricuspid valve repair was performed in 67,6%. The total duration of operations was 6.3 ± 1.4 hours, the time of CPB: 208 (168; 224) min, aortic clamping time: 126 (119; 151) min. In-hospital mortality was 4.4%. The main non-lethal complications in the early postoperative period were heart failure, respiratory and renal insufficience, hemorrhage and transient neurological disorder. Conclusions ― There are few data demonstrating experience in performing of such complex surgical cases due to the severity of patients and small number of institutions having such experience. In our series of hospital mortality observations correlated with the calculated and accounted for 4.4%, which is an acceptable result in this group of patients