Editorial on “Management of Cardiac Arrhythmia—Broadening the Horizons of Surgical Interventions”
Advancements in modern healthcare result in a longer lifespan and increased prevalence of cardiovascular ailments in an aging society. The surging incidence of atrial fibrillation, the most common cardiac arrhythmia, creates strong demand for efficient diagnostic and effective treatment. Arrhythmia is often associated with other comorbidities and has a profound impact on heart function, physical and mental efficiency, and quality of life. However, more to the point is its impact on liability to thrombus formation and stroke hazardousness. While new treatment options for rhythm control as well as stroke prevention are emerging, the complexity of atrial fibrillation culprits imposes a multidisciplinary and holistic approach to its management. It also becomes expected to engage not only health professionals but also patients to be cognizant and active participants in a treatment course.
New techniques and technologies in surgical and catheter ablation prove impressive results with high safety profiles. When joined together, they pave the way for an individualized, patient-oriented strategy. In recent 2020 European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines, ablative treatment gained higher recognition with an increase in indication class from IIa to I in a growing number of cases.
This Special Series endeavours to project future trends and possibilities for improving the diagnosis and treatment of atrial fibrillation. Our great privilege is to invite you to contribute your experience and perspective in the dynamic field of cardiac arrhythmia therapy.
Acknowledgments
Funding: None.
Footnote
Provenance and Peer Review: This article was commissioned by the editorial office, AME Surgical Journal, for the series “Management of Cardiac Arrhythmia—Broadening the Horizons of Surgical Interventions”. The article did not undergo external peer review.
Conflicts of Interest: Both authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://asj.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/asj-22-7/coif). The series “Management of Cardiac Arrhythmia—Broadening the Horizons of Surgical Interventions” was commissioned by the editorial office without any funding or sponsorship. AW served as the unpaid Guest Editor of the series and serves as an unpaid editorial board member of AME Surgical Journal from July 2021 to June 2023. PS served as the unpaid Guest Editor of the series. The authors have no other conflicts of interest to declare.
Ethical Statement: The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Cite this article as: Witkowska A, Suwalski P. Editorial on “Management of Cardiac Arrhythmia—Broadening the Horizons of Surgical Interventions”. AME Surg J 2023;3:22.
