Structural and functional atrial remodeling in patients after catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common supraventricular arrhythmia which occurs in 1.5-2.0% of population. Morbidity of AF increased by 13% over the past two decades. Modern treatment of AF includes drug therapy, catheter radiofrequency ablation and various modifications of Cox Maze operations. The purpose of this review was to assess the atrial remodeling according to world literature. This involved a search of published articles in Medline, Web of Science, PubMed, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials medical databases. During the primary stage of analysis 25 articles of 456 were identified. The researches carried out demonstrate that after catheter ablation and Cox Maze operation in patients with atrial fibrillation left atrium volume decrease, atrial contractile function improvment and sinus rhythm restoration are observed. In the absence of AF recurrence and postoperative atrial arrhythmias in early and late postoperative periods in some patients atrial remodeling is expressed. All data were confirmed by echocardiography, computer tomography and magnetic resonance imaging studies both before and after surgery.