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J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2005;129:477
© 2005 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Letters to the Editor

What is the true (unbiased) percentage freedom from atrial fibrillation at 6 months after the modified Cox maze procedure using bipolar radiofrequency energy?

Papworth Hospital, Cambridge, United Kingdom

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

To the Editor:

We read with interest the article by Gaynor and associates¹ concerning the results of their prospective study of a consecutive group of 40 patients with 100% follow-up in which they reported a 91% freedom from atrial fibrillation (AF) at 6 months.

However, the denominator of patients at 6 months was only 23; therefore, 43% (17 patients) remained unaccounted for at that time point (presumably because they had not yet reached the 6-month interval). The authors used "at last follow-up" analysis to declare 100% follow-up, but usually the percentage follow-up is reported as the number . . . [Full Text of this Article]