Comparison of modified MAZE with minimally invasive monopolar ablation and traditional bipolar radiofrequency ablation in the treatment of atrial fibrillation

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common atrial arrhythmia. Our aim was to compare the outcomes of atrial fibrillation treatment with original modified minimally invasive MAZE using monopolar radiofrequency ablation (mi-MAZE) and open surgery MAZE using bipolar radiofrequency ablation (os-MAZE). METHODS: We searched the associated patients’ information on the medical record system of the First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. The primary outcome is the atrial fibrillation ablation rate 3 months, 6 months, 12 months after operation. And secondary outcome is the postoperative quality of life. RESULTS: The mi-MAZE group included 42 patients and the os-MAZE group had 65 patients. Three months after surgery, we found that 31 patients (77.5%) in the mi-MAZE group were sinus rhythm and 44 (71.0%) recovered sinus rhythm in the os-MAZE group. We followed up these patients on the phone or in person and scored them on the SF-36 scale. The results were found to be 120.2 ± 8.10 vs 110.6 ± 6.58 (mi-MAZE vs os-MAZE, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference of atrial fibrillation ablation rate (sinus rhythm recovery rate) between the mi-MAZE group and the os-MAZE group. The postoperative quality of life in mi-MAZE group was higher than that in os-MAZE group.