Reply: Atrial fibrillation surgery concomitant with mitral valve surgery: Much more than gilding the lily

We thank Kataoka and Imamura1 for their interest in our study demonstrating superior clinical outcomes of atrial fibrillation (AF) surgery concomitant with mitral valve (MV) surgery compared with MV surgery alone.2 Multicenter, big data studies are generally regarded as more powerful studies providing more clinical information compared with smaller, single-center studies. However, bigger is not always better. Big data studies may have disadvantages such as potential for selection bias and confounding.
Source: The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery - Category: Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery Authors: Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research