Objective – To assess the occurrence of late thromboembolism after surgical repair of chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) simultaneously with repair of mitral valve using the Cox-Maze procedure. Methods – 69 patients underwent Cox 3 procedure, with no cryoablation simultaneously with mitral valvuloplasty or prosthesis. Mean age was 49.9±13.2 years. Mean follow-up was of 31.7±19 months. Types of lesion were as follows: 33 (48%) stenoses, 23 (33%) insufficiencies, and 13 (19%) double lesions. Procedures were: 64 (93%) valvuloplasties, 3 (4%) biological and 2 ( 3%) mechanical prosthesis placement. There were 9 (13%) patients with previous systemic embolism and 2 ( 3%) had left atrial thrombi. Results – Early mortality was 7% and late 1%. 2 patients ( 3%) were reoperated for mitral placement. At last evaluation, 10 patients (15%), were in AF. The remaining 59 (85%) were either in sinus / atrial rythm (74%) or under pacing (12%). There were no occurrence of early or late, systemic or pulmonary embolism. Permanent anticoagulation was employed in 16 cases, 10 in regular rythm and 6 in AF. The remaining 47 (75%), 2 in AF and 45 in regular rythm, did not receive anticoagulants. Conclusions – These results are in accordance with others series, where the occurrence of embolism was rare after maze procedure. Permanent systemic anticoagulation seems to be unnecessary in those cases
