title: Minimally invasive surgery for atrial fibrillation.
abstract: There are currently many promising innovations using minimal-access procedures, instrumentation, and devices for stand-alone and concomitant AF. It is prudent to say that within a few years, surgeons will be performing a number of surgical ablations with minimal complexity and maximum effectiveness, using port-accessed, video-assisted, and robot-assisted surgical techniques with the aid of hybrid approaches, less invasive devices, and specialized navigation instruments.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
authors.forename: Virna L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Sales
authors.forename: Patrick M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: McCarthy
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000601:surgery*; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D012371:Robotics; D056346:Sternotomy; D025321:Surgery, Computer-Assisted; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D013908:Thoracotomy; D016896:Treatment Outcome