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Cather-Based Approaches to Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation

  • Invasive Electrophysiology and Pacing (J Singh, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a prominent source of cardioembolic stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (AF). While systemic anticoagulation is the common therapeutic choice, these medications carry many contraindications and possible complications. Epicardial and endovascular techniques for occlusion of LAA have been explored and early clinical data is accumulating. In the coming years, this data will help guide the management of AF patients at risk of bleeding as well as potentially become first-line therapy to reduce the risk of thromboembolic stroke. The purpose of this article is to review current endovascular and epicardial catheter based LAA occlusion devices and the clinical data supporting their use.

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Conflict of Interest

Sunil Kapur declares that he has no conflict of interest.

Moussa Mansour has been a consultant for Biosense Webster and St. Jude Medical; has received grant support from Biosense Webster, MC10, Boston Scientific; and has received travel/accommodations expenses covered or reimbursed from St. Jude Medical.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Sunil Kapur & Moussa Mansour

  2. Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit Street, GRB-109, Boston, MA, 02114, USA

    Sunil Kapur & Moussa Mansour

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  1. Sunil Kapur
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  2. Moussa Mansour
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Correspondence to Moussa Mansour.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Invasive Electrophysiology and Pacing

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Kapur, S., Mansour, M. Cather-Based Approaches to Stroke Prevention in Atrial Fibrillation. Curr Cardiol Rep 15, 419 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-013-0419-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-013-0419-6

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