Atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery: evidence on prophylactic interventions.

Postoperative atrial fibrillation after heart surgery is frequent and may increase the length of hospital stay and costs of postoperative care of patients after heat surgery. Pharmacological and pacing interventions were evaluated in the large number of relatively small trials with often contradictory results. Conventional beta-blockers, sotalol, amiodarone and pacing were shown to be equally effective in the prevention of postoperative atrial fibrillation. Amiodarone and bi-atrial pacing were also effective in decreasing the length of hospital stay.