Therapeutic Options for Establised or Recurrent Atrial Fibrillation: Focus on Antithrombotic Therapy

A stroke at any time may be devastating, This is just as true after heart surgery. Recognized perioperative cerebrovascular accidents, with a permanent deficit, occur in approximately three percent of patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Another three percent develop seizures or deterioration of neurologic function [1-3] (Table 1). Following valve surgery, the rates of embolic events are slightly higher (with over 90% of the emboli involving the brain) [4-7] (Table 1). Emboli from manipulation of atherosclerotic aortas probably explain a majority of these neurologic events; [3] some may be due to thromboemboli.