Eric J. Rashba, MD, is professor of medicine

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia, accounting for approximately one third of all patient discharges with arrhythmia as the principal diagnosis and the greatest number of hospitalization days for arrhythmia each year.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common after cardiac surgery, occurring in 11% to 40% of patients after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)1-8 and in more than 50% of patients after valvular heart surgery.