May 15, 2021
The estimated 1-year rate of ischemic stroke after implantation of the Watchman left atrial appendage (LAA) closure device (Boston Scientific) was 1.53% in its first few years of commercial use in the United States, which encompassed a relatively high-risk population of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), registry data show.
That’s substantially lower than would be expected in a cohort of patients with a similar thromboembolic risk based on CHA
2DS
2-VASc score who are not taking oral anticoagulation (6.64%), Matthew Price, MD (Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, CA), reported Saturday during the virtual American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2021 Scientific Session.
The low thromboembolic event rate observed in the study, which used information from the ACC’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) LAAO Registry, “supports the early-to-midterm clinical effectiveness of transcatheter LAAO as it is being currently utilized in the United States,” Price said.