[Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Patients who Underwent Thoracic Aortic Surgery]

Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is a very common and important complication occurring after open heart surgery. Risk factors and prevention measure including β blocker use have been reported mainly in regard to patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, while little is known about POAF following thoracic aortic surgery. In the present study, we examined risk factors related to POAF and effective prevention of POAF in patients who underwent thoracic aortic surgery.

We evaluated 95 consecutive patients who underwent thoracic aortic surgery since 2010. We analyzed the relationship between perioperative factors and occurrence of POAF in the study cohort, as well as in 62 patients who had perioperative intravenous β blocker (landiolol) administration.

Following surgery, 21 (22%) of the patients had new onset POAF. The occurrence of POAF was related to that of stroke. Univariate analysis showed that age was a risk factor for POAF. In patients with landiolol, risk factors for POAF were age, arch aneurysm, and timing of landiolol administration. Six patients developed POAF during landiolol administration. However, of 56 patients who had not have POAF during landiolol administration, 8 developed POAF after stopping landiolol.

Our findings show that the risk factor of POAF after thoracic aortic surgery is age, while perioperative administration of landiolol may reduce POAF incidence.