THE DURATION OF PERSISTENT ATRIAL FIBRILLATION PRIOR TO THE HYBRID (VATS MAZE + CATHETER) ABLATION PROCEDURE PREDICTS RECURRENCE RATE AT ONE YEAR

Atrial fibrillation (AF) leads to electrical and structural changes within the atrium that contribute to the persistence of AF. However, it is unknown to what extent and at which time points such alterations influence the remodeling process. We sought to investigate the influence of AF duration on