Non-valvular atrial fibrillation has a high morbidity. Cox Ⅲ surgery is the gold standard for treating all kinds of atrial fibrillation. However, which needs to be performed with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and the trauma caused by it is severe. It is placed emphasis on minimal invasion, safety and efficacy for contemporary surgery so as to minimally invasive intervention is important in the treating non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Although the results of epicardial ablation with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) are better than that of transcatheter ablation, it also has some disadvantages and shortages under certain circumstance. Epicardial ablation with VATS combined with transcatheter ablation is complemantary which becomes the hot spot for treatment of novalvular atrial fibrillation.
Valve replacement is one of the way to treat valvular heart disease. Valve replacement with bioprostheses, which occurs low rate of bleeding and thromboembolism events, needs no lifelong anticoagulation. However, the life of bioprostheses is limited. Leaflet tear, leaf calcification, and artificial valve infective endocarditis may occur with using a bioprostheses These adverse events appear early to some patients who fail to achieve the expected service life of bioprostheses. This review mainly summarizes factors influencing early valve degeneration(EVD) of bioprostheses to provide suggestion in clinic.
