The Cardia Ultraseal Left Atrial Appendage Occluder: A Case Series With Significant Device-Related Complications

Left atrial appendage closure with the II generation Ultraseal device: An international registry. The LIGATE study

OBJECTIVES

To assess feasibility and safety of second-generation left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) Ultraseal device in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF).

BACKGROUND

LAAC with first-generation Ultraseal device (Cardia, Eagan, Minnesota) has been shown to be a feasible therapeutic option in patients with NVAF. However, there is a paucity of data regarding the novel second-generation Ultraseal device.

METHODS

All patients with NVAF undergoing second-generation Ultraseal device implantation between February 2018 and September 2020 were included in a multicenter international registry. Periprocedural and post-discharge events were collected through 6-month follow-up. Co-primary efficacy endpoints were device success and technical success while primary safety endpoint was in-hospital major adverse event (MAE) occurrence.

RESULTS

A total of 52 patients were included: mean age 75 ± 8, 30.8% women, mean HAS-BLED 3 ± 1. The device was successfully implanted in all patients. Technical success was achieved in 50 patients (96.1%). In-hospital MAEs occurred in three patients (5.8%). The incidence of 6-month all-cause death and major bleeding was 11.6% and 2.1%, respectively. No strokes, transient ischemic attacks, systemic embolisms, or device embolization were reported after discharge.

CONCLUSIONS

Second-generation Ultraseal device implantation was associated with high success rates and a low incidence of peri-procedural complications. Larger studies with longer follow-up are warranted to further evaluate the safety and the efficacy of this device, especially at long-term follow-up.

Left atrial appendage closure device complicated by late-onset pericardial effusion and tamponade: a case report

BACKGROUND

Late-onset complications of left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) device procedure are anecdotal and there are no such complications reported in literature using Cardia Ultraseal (Cardia, Inc., Eagan, MN, USA).

CASE SUMMARY

We report the case of a 74-year-old Caucasian man affected by paroxysmal atrial fibrillation with significant bleeding risk (familiar thrombocytopenia, macroscopic haematuria episodes during therapy with direct oral anticoagulants, HAS-BLED risk score: 4) and ischaemic risk as well (CHADSVASC score: 3). The patient was treated with LAAO device implantation for high bleeding risk. Subsequently, after 26 days from LAAO procedure, he was admitted to the emergency department for haematic cardiac tamponade. The patient was successfully treated with subxyphoidal pericardiocentesis in the acute phase, unfortunately cardiac arrest occurred during the transfer to the referral hospital for urgent cardiac surgery. Permanent neurological damage was reported and the patient died on day 28.

DISCUSSION

LAAO late-onset complications are very rare and the case presented is the first case described of late-onset pericardial effusion and tamponade secondary to the Cardia Ultraseal LAAO device implantation. We present a revision of the literature regarding the occurrence of similar adverse events and discuss the hypothetical mechanism of this major complication.