Efficacy and Safety of a Dedicated Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Protocol

The aim of this study is to present a dedicated left atrial appendage closure protocol, which could be of great interest in the approach of frail patients.

Left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion emerged as a promising therapeutic tool for stroke prevention, as most of the atrial fibrillation (AF) related strokes result from LAA thromboembolism, with an important residual risk even for anticoagulated patients. As an internationally recognized and scientifically-based protocol for the patients with higher comorbidities has not yet been defined for this procedure in terms of anaesthesia use or post procedural antithrombotic therapy and follow-up, we developed a dedicated protocol that could be applied in frail patients. In this study we describe the mid-term outcome of our strategy.

We enrolled 32 patients that underwent percutaneous LAA occlusion under transesophageal echocardiogram guidance, using only superficial sedation. A dedicated anti-thrombotic regimen was chosen for all patients, taking into consideration their bleeding and thrombotic risk profile. All patients routinely performed echocardiography after 3 months follow-up.

Procedural success was achieved in all cases, except for one, due to extreme angulation of the LAA neck, while one patient required general anaesthesia. Only 9.4% of the patients, having previous stroke and still at high risk for cardio-embolic events, continued anticoagulation, while 31.2% discontinued any anti-thombotic drug. While no in-hospital complication was encountered, we found one asymptomatic device-thrombosis, managed by 30 days anticoagulation. No deaths, strokes or major bleedings occurred during an average 10.3 months of follow-up.

A tailored post-implantation anti-thrombotic regimen and the avoidance of general anaesthesia can be a safe and effective strategy for the usually frail patients requiring percutaneous LAAO.