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Review
. 2015 Jun:13 Suppl 1:S304-12.
doi: 10.1111/jth.12974.

Postoperative atrial fibrillation in non-cardiac and cardiac surgery: an overview

A Bessissow  1   2 , J Khan  2   3 , P J Devereaux  2   4 , J Alvarez-Garcia  5 , P Alonso-Coello  4   6
Affiliations
Free article
Review

Postoperative atrial fibrillation in non-cardiac and cardiac surgery: an overview

A Bessissow et al. J Thromb Haemost. 2015 Jun.
Free article

Erratum in

  • Corrigendum.
    [No authors listed] [No authors listed] J Thromb Haemost. 2015 Nov;13(11):2134. doi: 10.1111/jth.13058. Epub 2015 Oct 5. J Thromb Haemost. 2015. PMID: 26547903 No abstract available.

Abstract

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is the most common perioperative cardiac arrhythmia. A major risk factor for POAF is advanced age, both in non-cardiac and cardiac surgery. Following non-cardiac surgery, it is important to correct reversible conditions such as electrolytes imbalances to prevent the occurrence of POAF. Management of POAF consists of rate control and therapeutic anticoagulation if POAF persists for > 48 h and CHADS2 score > 2. After cardiac surgery, POAF affects a larger amount of patients. In addition to age, valve surgery carries the greatest risk for new AF. Rate control is the mainstay therapy in these patients. Prediction, prevention, and management of POAF should be further studied.

Keywords: atrial fibrillation; cardiac surgery; general surgery; postoperative period; review.

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