Fig. 6

Clinical overview of a potential algorithm to the modifiable and non-modifiable factors of the cardiac surgery patient’s risk for AFib. The modifiable factors are inflammatory, some having prognostic value determined through a LOS surrogate, such as NLR and CCL2, and some with diagnostic value determined as the onset of AFib, such as CD45 and MMP9. Utility of these biomarkers would be independent of on-modifiable factors such as age, sex, height and genetics, which can also contribute to the development of fibrosis in AFib patients. However, fibrosis is to be questioned as to whether it is an incipient cause or correlative pre-condition to AFib in patients, experimental models should be developed to answer this question definitively