The Cost Benefit Ratio
From an economical point of view, the additional costs of the implementation of the novel TruPlan software should be taken into account in the whole workflow process of LAAO. This should be offset by the savings obtained from shorter cath-lab times, if the operator already knows the device sizing beforehand, then confirmed by intraprocedural ICE measurements, and from reduction in the clinical team needed for the procedure.
Needless to highlight that the data of this prospective single-center study need to be corroborated by multicenter experience and, more importantly this methodology should be implemented for other device platforms.
Anyhow, we acknowledge and praise the authors’ efforts to identify a more sophisticated and reliable methodology for the improvement of LAAO device sizing through a novel pre-procedural CT evaluation. The results of this study represents an important step forward in our understanding of which imaging process is more favorable for the improvement of LAAO. We all hope this could make the LAAO workflow smoother, safer and cost beneficial in the very near future.