ATRIAL FIBRILLATION SURGERY

In this procedure, the surgeon makes a number of small cuts in the atrium and then sews them back together. The heart’s electrical signal is not able to cross these cuts. The cut area now stops conducting the abnormal signals that caused the atrial fibrillation.

The heart rhythm can therefore return to normal, and the heart can stop fibrillating. Traditionally, this procedure is done as part of an open-heart surgery assisted with a heart-lung machine (cardiopulmonary bypass).