Lone atrial fibrillation (AF) describes isolated episodes of AF, and when occurs in the perioperative period has previously presumed to be benign cardiac arrhythmias in response to physiologic stress.
However, a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association evaluating patients without pre-existing AF who were hospitalized for surgery in an observational retrospective cohort study: results of this large observational study established that perioperative AF associated with non-cardiac surgery is definitely a risk factor for ischemic stroke in the future.