Implantation in people at risk for stroke could reduce medication use, study suggests.
FRIDAY, Aug. 14 (HealthDay News) -- Closing the heart's left atrial appendage could offer an alternative to long-term warfarin treatment for people with non-valvular atrial fibrillation who are at risk for stroke, according to a new study.
Atrial fibrillation, the most common type of irregular heartbeat, causes the upper chambers of the heart to quiver. This can cause blood to pool and form clots in the left atrial appendage (LAA), a long, tubular structure connected to the left atrial cavity. More than 90 percent of atrial blood clots in people with non-valvular atrial fibrillation may originate in the LAA, according to background information in the study.
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"The efficacy of percutaneous closure of the LAA with this device was non-inferior to that of warfarin therapy," concluded Dr. David R. Holmes, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and his colleagues. "Although there was a higher rate of adverse safety events in the intervention group than the control group, events in the intervention group were mainly a result of periprocedural complications," they wrote.
"Closure of the LAA might provide an alternative strategy to chronic warfarin therapy for stroke prophylaxis in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation," they added.
The study appears this week in The Lancet.
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about atrial fibrillation.
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