{"id":6499,"date":"2026-02-13T20:48:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T20:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/?page_id=6499"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:02:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:02:23","slug":"all-bipolar-clamp-technique-afib","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/all-bipolar-clamp-technique-afib\/","title":{"rendered":"Surgeon Q&#038;A: The ABC Technique for Atrial Fibrillation During Heart Valve Surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is the most common arrhythmia among adults. Many people will experience AFib either intermittently or chronically during their lifetime. Heart valve patients are even more susceptible to AFib because of the structural abnormalities a diseased valve may cause over time. Although there are surgical options for valve therapy and AFib treatment, many heart valve patients want to know whether both conditions can be treated simultaneously with a single, minimally-invasive procedure.<\/p>\n<p>While attending the Endoscopic Cardiac Surgeon\u2019s Club meeting in Northern Kentucky, Adam Pick, the founder of HeartValveSurgery.com met with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Gan-Dunnington-St.+Helena-California.php\">Dr. Gan Dunnington<\/a> to learn about the concurrent treatment of heart valve disease and AFib. Dr. Dunnington is a minimally-invasive cardiac surgeon at Adventist Health Saint Helena in Saint Helena, California. Dr. Dunington is known for performing complex minimally invasive cardiac procedures to treat AFib during heart valve repair or replacement.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OkRXMt1stTE?rel=0&amp;si=lcEiwF1qz28KcrfM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Key Facts About Minimally Invasive Atrial Fibrillation and Heart Valve Disease Surgery<\/h2>\n<p>Here are the key insights shared by Dr. Dunnington:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Atrial fibrillation is common yet undertreated. \u201cThirty percent of valve patients have atrial fibrillation,\u201d said Dr. Dunnington. \u201cUnfortunately, only a quarter to one third of surgeons actually treat AFib at the time they have surgery. It\u2019s been vastly undertreated.\u201d Dr. Dunnington explained that when AFib is treated during heart surgery, patients have better survival, fewer complications like strokes, and, most importantly, better quality of life. \u201cPatients feel better,\u201d he said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to take some of the rhythm medications or blood thinners they took before having AFib treated.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6501 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/afib-heart-valve-disease-common-patients.jpg\" alt=\"Patients with Afib and Heart Valve Disease - 30%\" width=\"650\" height=\"352\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Both problems should be addressed simultaneously. \u201cFor a long time, surgeons felt like they had to make this decision if they became a minimally invasive surgeon, but they weren\u2019t sure how to do the AFib part,\u201d said Dr. Dunnington. He explained that they shouldn\u2019t have to make that choice, and now they don\u2019t. \u201cThey should be able to do both,\u201d he said. \u201cAtrial fibrillation is extremely important, but minimally invasive surgery for cardiac surgeons is extremely important too.\u201d He pointed out that many highly functional valve patients want everything taken care of during surgery so they can get back to work and enjoy a better quality of life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The \u201cABC Technique\u201d is a new approach for treating AFib during surgery. \u201cIt\u2019s called All Bipolar Clamp, or the ABC Technique,\u201d said Dr. Dunnington. \u201cWe create a surgical ablation or Maze procedure by putting a brand on the back of the heart with a series of burn lines that looks like a maze. It has a start-to-finish approach, and using the ABC Technique, which I\u2019ve done a couple of hundred times in the last few years, is helping make the Maze procedure faster, more efficient, and safer for both surgeons and patients. That\u2019s what I\u2019d like to spread to other surgeons.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6502 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/all-bipolar-clamp-technique-afib-benefits.jpg\" alt=\"All Bipolar Clamp Technique Benefits for Atrial Fibrillation Treatment\" width=\"650\" height=\"352\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Is it possible for AFib patients to improve their quality of life and get off medication after a surgical ablation? \u201cAbsolutely,\u201d said Dr. Dunnington. \u201cThe success rates for treating atrial fibrillation with surgery are more than 80 to 90 percent.\u201d He stated that treatment with medication or catheter ablation alone may have a far lower success rate of 50 percent. \u201cPatients I see sometimes feel palpitations and their heart racing. A lot of times, they feel tired, run down, or short of breath. It may be that the valve is leaking or too tight, but AFib can cause some of those same symptoms. If you can treat the valve problem, you can treat the AFib.\u201d Dr. Dunnington explained that treating the AFib will ultimately result in patients no longer needing antiarrhythmic drugs. \u201cAlso, if we treat the stroke center of the heart, the left atrial appendage, patients won\u2019t have to be on blood thinners long-term. That\u2019s the real goal that everyone is looking for.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6504 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/..\/Images\/afib-treatment-success-surgical-ablation-abc-technique-dunnington.jpg\" alt=\"Afib Surgical Ablation Treatment Success Rate\" width=\"650\" height=\"355\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Thanks Dr. Dunnington and Adventist Health!<\/h2>\n<p>On behalf of all the patients in our community, thank you, Dr. Gan Dunnington, for everything you and your team are doing at Adventist Health in Saint Helena, California!<\/p>\n<p>Related links:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/surgeons\/dr-Gan-Dunnington-St.+Helena-California.php\">See Dr. Dunnington\u2019s Interactive Surgeon Profile<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/heart-surgery-blog\/2015\/09\/01\/top-5-misconceptions-atrial-fibrillation\/\">Top 5 Misconceptions About Atrial Fibrillation<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/atrial-fibrillation\/\">Explore the Atrial Fibrillation Patient Education Center<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep on tickin,<br \/>\nAdam<\/p>\n<p>P.S. For the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of our patient community, we have provided a written transcript of our interview with Dr. Dunnington below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"cms.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"class_list":["post-6499","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","category-atrial-fibrillation-afib"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6499"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6510,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6499\/revisions\/6510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.heart-valve-surgery.com\/learning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}