An Overview of Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion Devices

Atrial fibrillation (AF) places patients at increased risk of thromboembolic events that can be devastating. The left atrial appendage (LAA) has been identified as the source of thrombus formation in nonvalvular AF. Traditionally, systemic anticoagulation has been used to reduce the risk of stroke a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current cardiology reports 2015, Vol.17 (4), p.22-22, Article 22
Main Authors: Feldmann, Kyle J., Arshi, Arash, Yakubov, Steven J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atrial Appendage - surgery
Atrial Fibrillation - therapy
Cardiology
Cardiovascular Surgical Procedures - instrumentation
Humans
Interventional Cardiology (S Rao
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Section Editor
Stroke - prevention & control
Topical Collection on Interventional Cardiology
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Summary:Atrial fibrillation (AF) places patients at increased risk of thromboembolic events that can be devastating. The left atrial appendage (LAA) has been identified as the source of thrombus formation in nonvalvular AF. Traditionally, systemic anticoagulation has been used to reduce the risk of stroke and systemic embolism. However, anticoagulation is not well tolerated in all patients and is underutilized. As a potential alternative to anticoagulation, novel therapies have been developed to remove the LAA. Three main techniques are being utilized to accomplish LAA exclusion: percutaneous intracardiac, percutaneous epicardial, and surgical approaches. Emerging evidence suggests that LAA exclusion may be an effective means of reducing the risk of stroke in patients with nonvalvular AF.
ISSN:1523-3782
1534-3170
DOI:10.1007/s11886-015-0573-0