**1. Introduction**

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is the major cause of stroke. Over the past several decades, AF surgical Ablation has become a treatment option for refractory and debilitating cardiac arrhythmias. Surgical innovation and ablation technology has rapidly evolved and has revolutionized therapies for AF. Although indications for surgical ablation have narrowed, AF surgery remains an important and effective treatment option.

Medical treatment has had many shortcomings including both the inefficacy and unwanted side effects of many antiarrhythmic drugs [1]. Initial attempts aimed at providing rate control failed the development of catheter and surgical ablation in the 1980s. After a decade of experimental studies, the Maze procedure was introduced in 1987. It has gone through several modifications and has become the gold standard for the treatment of AF [2].
