Isolated left atrial cryoablation of atrial fibrillation in conventional mitral valve surgery

•Recent trends of surgery for atrial fibrillation (AF) are towards simplified sets of atrial lesions.•During conventional mitral valve surgery, a cryo-lesion set limited to only the left atrium may give good results.•Preoperative left atrial dilation and mixed etiology of mitral valve disease were associated with AF at hospital discharge.•Preoperative pulmonary hypertension and AF at discharge combined with an increased risk of AF at follow-up.