Advances in the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation.

There has been a resurgence in the surgical treatment of AF. Although the Maze procedure is extremely effective at curing AF, new surgical approaches are far simpler and include pulmonary vein isolation, left atrial lesions, and excision of the left atrial appendage. Currently applied as an adjunct to other cardiac operations, these new approaches are being modified for thoracoscopic, minimally invasive, epicardial AF ablation. This minimally invasive procedure will enable rapid and effective cure of AF in large numbers of patients.