Cardiothoracic surgical education and

From th Cleve Medi and I Polic diova NY; t Charl Heart Surge Cana Resea sion o Support Healt Receive for pu Address Evide Box 1 0022-52 Copyrig for Tho doi:10.1 Objective: Since the introduction of the cut-and-sew Cox maze procedure for atrial fibrillation, there has been substantial innovation in techniques for ablation. Use of alternative energy sources for ablation simplified the procedure and has resulted in dramatic increase in the number of patients with atrial fibrillation treated by surgical ablation. Despite its increasingly widespread adoption, there is lack of rigorous clinical evidence to establish this procedure as an effective clinical therapy.