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.