The Samsung Medical Center's (SMC) cardiology department said Monday that the number of hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation cases performed by the hospital has exceeded 300.

The team led by On Young-geun, Park Kyung-min and Jeong Dong-seop, accomplished such feats only five years after it performed its first hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation in 2012.

Hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation is the latest hybrid treatment method that combines surgery and medical procedure.

Medical staff inserts a thoracoscope into the outside of the patient's beating heart. Afterwards, doctors use radiofrequency to ablate the area that causes arrhythmia. Radiofrequency catheter ablation, a medical procedure, is subsequently done inside of the heart so that it can remove all areas that cause arrhythmia.

Hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation reduces the surgery time and improves stability, as it does not require the heart to stop beating, unlike previous conventional surgeries. It also has the highest success rate among arrhythmic procedures with a low recurrence rate as doctors can directly view the heart through a thoracoscope.

The surgery lasts for about two hours, and the average admission period is about four to five days.

“The hospital is pleased to be recognized internationally for the stability and effectiveness of hybrid therapy as it achieved 300 cases of hybrid arrhythmia surgeries,” On said.

The analyses on the follow-up of patients treated with hybrid atrial fibrillation ablation were also published in a cardiology journal editorial.