Project description:A 75-year-old man with a previous mitral valve repair experienced embolization of a left atrial appendage occlusion device in the left atrium. The device was successfully retrieved using a double snaring technique, without the need for open surgery. This is an unusual report of left atrial appendage occluder retrieval, confirming the feasibility of the technique and the high flexibility of the device. (Level of Difficulty: Advanced.).
Project description:A 69-year-old man presented at 10 weeks postimplantation with a 31-mm Watchman FLX migrating into the left atrium. Due to incomplete left atrial appendage seal and embolization risk, transcatheter device extraction was performed without complications. Herein we describe the technique and procedural steps, using cardiac computed tomography and benchtop models to guide practice.
Project description:A patient underwent left atrial appendage occlusion due to recurrent stroke despite new oral anticoagulant therapy. The patient later presented with severe acute mitral regurgitation secondary to occluder device migration, which was retrieved percutaneously from the descending aorta via the femoral artery. Mitral surgical repair was required and successfully performed. (Level of Difficulty: Intermediate.).
Project description:Left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) has evolved as a safe alternative to oral anticoagulation therapy for stroke prophylaxis. However, the presence of a patent foramen ovale (PFO) occluder device is considered a relative contraindication. Here we report a successful case of LAAC in the presence of a PFO occluder device. (Level of Difficulty: Beginner.).
Project description:Left atrial appendage (LAA) closure may be complicated by occluder embolization. Percutaneous retrieval is preferred for devices embolized to large vessels. In this report, the successful percutaneous retrieval of an LAA occluder embolized to the abdominal aorta was followed by several complications, culminating in iatrogenic aortic rupture requiring endovascular repair. (Level of Difficulty: Advanced.).
Project description:According to clinical studies, around one third of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) will suffer a stroke during their lifetime. Between 70 and 90% of these strokes are caused by thrombus formed in the left atrial appendage. In patients with contraindications to oral anticoagulants, a left atrial appendage occluder (LAAO) is often implanted to prevent blood flow entering in the LAA. A limited range of LAAO devices is available, with different designs and sizes. Together with the heterogeneity of LAA morphology, these factors make LAAO success dependent on clinician's experience. A sub-optimal LAAO implantation can generate thrombi outside the device, eventually leading to stroke if not treated. The aim of this study was to develop clinician-friendly tools based on biophysical models to optimize LAAO device therapies. A web-based 3D interactive virtual implantation platform, so-called VIDAA, was created to select the most appropriate LAAO configurations (type of device, size, landing zone) for a given patient-specific LAA morphology. An initial LAAO configuration is proposed in VIDAA, automatically computed from LAA shape features (centreline, diameters). The most promising LAAO settings and LAA geometries were exported from VIDAA to build volumetric meshes and run Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to assess blood flow patterns after implantation. Risk of thrombus formation was estimated from the simulated hemodynamics with an index combining information from blood flow velocity and complexity. The combination of the VIDAA platform with in silico indices allowed to identify the LAAO configurations associated to a lower risk of thrombus formation; device positioning was key to the creation of regions with turbulent flows after implantation. Our results demonstrate the potential for optimizing LAAO therapy settings during pre-implant planning based on modeling tools and contribute to reduce the risk of thrombus formation after treatment.
Project description:Prevention of stroke represents a goal of primary importance in health systems due to its associated morbidity and mortality. As several patient groups with increased stroke rates have been identified, multiple approaches have been developed and implemented: oral anticoagulation (OAC) for patients with atrial fibrillation, surgical and percutaneous revascularisation in patients with carotid disease, device closure for patients with patent foramen ovale, and now, left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) for selected patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). The latter group of patients are the focus of this review which evaluates the pathophysiology, selection of patients, procedural performance, outcomes of treatment both during and post-procedure, adjunctive therapy, complications, and longer-term outcomes.
Project description:BackgroundPericardial effusion is a common complication of percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) closure. Acute management is the cornerstone of pericardial effusion treatment and interrupting the intervention is often required.Case summaryA 65-year-old man presented an acute 10 mm pericardial effusion following pigtail contrast appendage injection. A rapid Watchman Flex 24 mm (Boston Scientific) deployment permitted bleeding interruption. A needle pericardiocentesis was achieved in order to prevent any haemodynamical instability.DiscussionThis case report describes an atypical cause of pericardial effusion and a technique for bleeding control with LAA closure device deployment.
Project description:(1) Background: The assessment of residual peri-device leakages (PDL) after left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) remains crucial for post-procedural management. Our study aimed to verify a novel echocardiographic classification for the prediction of PDL. (2) Methods: Echocardiographic data of 72 patients who underwent percutaneous LAAO were evaluated. All echo images were analyzed by two independent investigators using standard analysis software (Image-Arena IA-4.6.4.44 by TomTec®, Munich, Germany). A total number of 127 studies was evaluated. Forty-four patients had baseline studies, at 45 days and at 6 months post-implantation. We propose a morphological classification of LAA devices based on the amount of echodensity inside the devices into three types: type A showing complete homogenous thrombosis, type B incompletely thrombosed device with inhomogeneous echo-free space <50% of device, and type C with partially thrombosed device in which the echo free space was >50% of device in various planes, which we called the "ice-cream cone" sign. Each type was matched to the degree of PDL and clinical outcome parameters. (3) Results: Patients with type C had the highest percentage of PDL at 45 days follow-up (type A: 24%, type B: 31%, type C 100% PDL, p < 0.001) and at 6 months follow-up (type A: 7%, type B: 33%, type C 100% PDL, p < 0.001). Notably, device size in patients with PDL was larger than that in patients without PDL at 6 months follow-up (25.6 ± 3.5 mm vs. 28.7 ± 3.4 mm, p = 0.004). Device size in patients with type C appearance was the largest of the three types (type A: 25.9 ± 3.6 mm, type B: 25.8 ± 3.4 mm, type C 29.8 ± 3.0 mm, type A vs. C; p = 0.019; type B vs. C, p = 0.007). (4) Conclusions: In conclusion, PDL are common post-LAAO, and their frequency is underestimated and under-recognized. PDL are much more common in patients with larger LAA ostial sizes and likely lower longitudinal compression. Type C appearance of the LAAO devices ("ice-cream cone sign") has a high positive predictive value for PDL. Further studies are needed for better delineation of the clinical importance of this proposed classification.