Table 5.

Recommendations for surgical ablation

COR	LOE	Recommendations
		1. For patients with AF who are undergoing cardiac surgery, concomitant surgical ablation is beneficial to reduce the risk of recurrent AF
		2. In patients undergoing surgical ablation, anticoagulation is reasonable for at least 3 months after the procedure to reduce thromboembolic risk
		3. For patients with symptomatic persistent AF refractory to antiarrhythmic drug therapy, hybrid epicardial and endocardial ablation might be reasonable to reduce the risk of recurrent atrial tachyarrhythmia

COR Class (Strength) of recommendation

LOE Level (Quality) of evidence

B-R Moderate-quality evidence from 1 or more randomized controlled trials (RCTs); Meta-analyses of moderate-quality RCTs

B-NR Data derived from nonrandomized trials

AF atrial fibrillation

Adapted from reference 3, with permission