Interventional occlusion of left atrial appendage in patients with atrial fibrillation. Acute and long-term outcome of occluder implantation in the LAARGE Registry

Background Left atrial appendage occluder (LAAO) implantation is an alternative method for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF) patients who are not eligible for long-term oral anticoagulation. The present paper describes the acute and 1-year follow-up outcome data of the prospective, multicenter German left atrial appendage occlusion registry (LAARGE). Methods LAARGE enrolled 641 patients who were scheduled for LAAO implantation. The data collected included demographics, clinical characteristics, procedure indication, details of implantation, and outcome; patients were followed at 1-year post-implant. Efficacy and safety during follow-up are assessed by the occurrence of thrombembolic and bleeding events, respectively. Results A total of 641 consecutive patients (mean age: 75.9 +/- 8.0) were enrolled from July 2014 to January 2016 in 38 hospitals in Germany. Patient demographics represent a critically-ill population with a calculated mean CHA2DS2-VASc score and HASBLED score of 4.5 and 3.9, respectively, with bleeding events as the main indication for LAAO implantation (79.4%). One-year all-cause mortality post-procedure was 11.5% with a non-fatal stroke/TIA rate of 1.3% (8 patients) and a rate of major bleeding of 1.6% (10 patients). The anticoagulation regimen after 1 year consisted of oral anticoagulation in 5.5% of patients and an antiplatelet therapy (APT) rate of 84.1% (majority single APT with ASS (74.5%), dual APT in 6.7%). Conclusions LAARGE, a prospective multicenter real-world and all-comer registry, is unique in its concept, as it is non-manufacturer sponsored and includes all commercially available devices. LAAO implantation is mainly performed in elderly, critically-ill patients with a history of bleeding. LAARGE demonstrates a favorable outcome at 1-year follow-up in terms of stroke/TIA (1.3%) and major bleeding (1.6%) while using a single APT in the vast majority of patients.