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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2004;128:326-327
© 2004 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Letter to the editor

Ventral cardiac denervation: Is it truly an effective prophylaxis against atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass grafting?

Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Castle Hill Hospital, Hull And East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, Hull, United Kingdom

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

To the Editor:

We read with interest the article by Melo and colleagues¹ on ventral cardiac denervation (VCD) as a prophylaxis against atrial fibrillation (AF) after coronary revascularization. However, we wish to point out certain aspects of the methodology that may have affected the results. Post-CABG AF is paroxysmal in a large proportion of patients and does not always give rise to clinical symptoms. The fact that only 34% and 33% of the patients in their VCD and control groups, respectively, had continuous telemetry monitoring for 4 days would have significantly reduced the AF detection rate, the primary end point of the study. Although statistically nonsignificant, . . . [Full Text of this Article]