Stand-alone surgical ablation for atrial fibrillation: a novel bilateral double-port approach

To explore an effective, reproducible and less invasive surgical approach for lone atrial fibrillation (AF).A modified "mini-maze" including pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), box-lesion and left atrial appendage (LAA) resection was applied for AF patients in our center from January 2016 to June 2017. A 2.5 cm thoracotomy extended with tissue retractor was made as working port in the fourth intercostal space on each anterior side of the chest. The...