Postoperative Echocardiography and Atrial Fibrillation

What is it about?

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is frequent after cardiac surgery. We aimed to establish a predictive model of POAF based on postoperative transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) findings. Apart from age, the simple determination by postoperative TTE of long-axis left atrial dimension and left ventricle diastolic dysfunction grade after cardiac surgery proved to be powerful independent predictors of POAF and may be useful for risk stratification of these patients.

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Why is it important?

The use of a simple tool such as TTE in the postoperative cardiac surgery can help to stratify the risk of POAF and establish a preventive treatment.