BackgroundAtrial fibrillation (AF) is a cardiac arrhythmia with high risk for
thromboembolic events, specially stroke.ObjectiveTo assess the safety of left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) with the
Amplatzer Cardiac Plug for the prevention of thromboembolic events in
patients with nonvalvular AF.MethodsThis study included 15 patients with nonvalvular AF referred for LAAC, 6
older than 75 years (mean age, 69.4 ± 9.3 years; 60% of the male
sex).ResultsThe mean CHADS2 score was 3.4 ± 0.1, and mean
CHA2DS2VASc , 4.8 ± 1.8, evidencing a high
risk for thromboembolic events. All patients had a HAS-BLED score > 3
(mean, 4.5 ± 1.2) with a high risk for major bleeding within 1 year.
The device was successfully implanted in all patients, with correct
positioning in the first attempt in most of them (n = 11; 73.3%).ConclusionThere was no periprocedural complication, such as device migration,
pericardial tamponade, vascular complications and major bleeding. All
patients had an uneventful in-hospital course, being discharged in 2 days.
The echocardiographic assessments at 6 and 12 months showed neither device
migration, nor thrombus formation, nor peridevice leak. On clinical
assessment at 12 months, no patient had thromboembolic events or bleeding
related to the device or risk factors. In this small series, LAAC with
Amplatzer Cardiac Plug proved to be safe, with high procedural success rate
and favorable outcome at the 12-month follow-up.