Study population
Patients with NVAF at a high risk of stroke who underwent LAmbre
implants (Lifetech Scientific Corp., Shenzhen, China) at The First
Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from January 2018 to
December 2019 were included. The inclusion criteria for LAAC were as
follows: age >18 years,
CHA2DS2-VASc score ≥2, contraindication
to long-term OAT, patients with bleeding events with or without
anticoagulation therapy, stroke despite OAT, and intolerance or refusal
to take OAT. The exclusion criteria were as follows: comorbid unstable
angina or acute myocardial infarction, a left atrial inner diameter
>65 mm, valvular heart disease, left atrial thrombus, a
history of LAA ligation, a history of inferior vena cava filter
placement surgery, severe infection, tumours, other diseases requiring
systemic anticoagulation, new onset stroke events within 1 month, active
bleeding disease, and a left ejection fraction ≤30%. The conventional
implantation method was used in the LAAC procedure in the initial 59
patients (CM group) and an MM was used in the subsequent 165 patients
(MM group). All patients received pre-procedural transesophageal
echocardiography (TEE) to assess anatomy of the LAA and to exclude
thrombus of the LAA. Written informed consent was obtained from all of
the participants. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the
local institution.