OUTCOMES OF THE HYBRID VIDEO-ASSISTED THORACOSCOPIC SURGERY (VATS) MAZE FOLLOWED BY CATHETER ABLATION IN PATIENTS WITH PERSISTENT AND LONGSTANDING PERSISTENT ATRIAL FIBRILLATION: CLINICAL RESULTS FROM A HIGH-VOLUME CENTER

Background: Compared to patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF), patients with long-standing persistent (LSP) AF have disappointing outcomes with catheter ablation alone with reported success rates less than 50% at 1 year. The hybrid ablation procedure consisting of minimally invasive VATS