title: Epicardial ablation of atrial fibrillation on the beating heart without cardiopulmonary bypass.
abstract: The Cox-Maze procedure is the gold standard in surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation. Alternative techniques using cryoablation, radiofrequency, or microwaves have been proven to be equally effective. However, up to now, all techniques require the opening of the atria and, hence, the use of extracorporeal circulation. We describe a technique to perform epicardial ablation of atrial fibrillation on the beating heart without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, German Heart Center, Munich. mazzitelli@dhm.mhn.de
authors.forename: Domenico
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mazzitelli
authors.forename: Chul-Hyun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Kook-Yang
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Federico J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Benetti
authors.forename: Ruediger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lange
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000628:therapy*; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D017115:Catheter Ablation; D006801:Humans