Left atrial appendage occlusion procedure and blood drawing
Patients receiving vitamin K antagonist (VKA) or novel oral anticoagulation (NOAC) on a long term-basis were eligible if their anticoagulation was stable within the previous 3 months. Before procedure, bridge therapy was performed. VKAs was interrupted 5 days and NOAC was interrupted minimum 2 days before LAAO procedure and switched to low molecular heparin (LMWH).
All left atrial appendage occlusion were performed using epicardial devices: 72.7% cases were performed with Lariat device (SentreHEART Inc, Redwood, CA, USA) and 27.3% cases were performed using AtriClip (AtriCure, Inc., West Chester, PA, USA).
LAAO procedure with Lariat device use pericardial access obtained via a telescoping-micropuncture technique at the beginning of the procedure followed by femoral venous access and was described in detail in our previous study 8-10. LAAO procedure with AtriClip device was performed by a stand-alone totally thoracoscopic left atrial appendage exclusion using minimally invasive approach was also described elsewhere11
Day after procedure in all patients LMWH was continued till patient hospital discharge. All patients were discharged on aspirin monotherapy (150mg/day).