Nine-year, single-centre experience of left atrial appendage occlusion: patient characteristics, procedural outcomes and long-term follow up.

This is a review of 114 patients with atrial fibrillation who had left atrial appendage occlusion with an Amplatzer cardiac plug over a nine-year period done by a single operator. This shows that the procedure can be safely performed with a very low rate of major complications (< 1%) and a zero procedural mortality rate. Long-term follow up over an average of 38.5 months showed a 65% reduction in actual versus predicted stroke rate. This is similar to that seen with oral anti-coagulants and other published trials and registries involving left atrial appendage occlusion.