Surgical perspectives in the management of atrial fibrillation

Table 5 Summary of results from studies included looking at Cox-Maze procedures

Procedure	Ref.	Sample size	Mean follow-up period	Outcome	Important findings
Cox-Maze	Cox et al[7]	178 patients	8.5 yr	93% freedom from AF	Cox-Maze procedure developed
Cox-Maze	McCarthy et al[16]	100 patients	3 yr	90.4% in sinus rhythm or atrial pacing	Associated with low perioperative and late morbidity rates
Cox-Maze	Schaff et al[17]	221 patients	6 yr	90% in sinus rhythm	CM procedure was useful in patients requiring valvuloplasty for mitral regurgitation
Modified Cox-Maze with bipolar RFA	Gaynor et al[18]	40 patients	6 mo	91% in sinus rhythm	Modification of CM-III shortened and simplified the procedure with no change in short-term efficacy

RFA: Radiofrequency ablation; AF: Atrial fibrillation.