Feasibility and Safety of the Percutaneous and Non-fluoroscopic
Procedure for Left Atrial Appendage Closure in Patients at High-risk for
Fluoroscopy
Abstract
Background Most patients undergoing left atrial appendage
closure (LAAC) are elderly individuals with atrial fibrillation (AF) and
many comorbidities, which may elevate the risk for complications
associated with contrast agents with fluoroscopic image-guided
procedure. . Objectives This retrospective study of patients
with AF at high risk for use of contrast agents evaluated the
feasibility and safety of LAAC using Percutaneous and Non-fluoroscopic
procedure with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) as the only image
guidance relative to those under fluoroscopic image guidance.
Methods From September 2017 to December 2020, a cohort of 126
consecutive eligible patients with AF undergoing LAAC at our center were
retrospectively recruited and divided into 2 groups according to image
guidance modality, namely, a TEE group (n = 32; mean age, 75.4 ± 7.9
years; 25 (78.1%) with stage III chronic kidney disease [preoperative
eGFR, 52.7 ± 8.8 mL/min/1.73m 2] and 7 (21.9%)
allergic to contrast agent) and a fluoroscopic group (n = 94; mean age,
65.7 ± 10.0 years). Propensity score matching was used to adjust for
baseline differences. Results Propensity-score matching yielded
25 pairs of patients with similarly distributed age (72.9 ± 6.9 vs. 73.1
± 4.9 years, p = .925), gender (10:15 vs 11:14, p = 1), weight (68.3 ±
11.2 vs. 68.1 ± 12.3 kg, p = .948) and ALT level (20.0 ± 9.8 vs. 22.5 ±
14.2 U/L, p = .482). The LAA was successfully occluded in all patients
with statistically similar success rate (100% vs. 100%, p = 1),
hospitalization duration (5.0 [3.0, 7.0] vs. 5.0 [3.0,
6.0] days, p = .498), and rates of complications: 1 (4.2%)
pericardial effusion and 1 (4.2%) residual shunt in the TEE group, and
5 (20%) residual shunts, 1 (4.2%) pericardial effusion, 1 (4.2%)
myocardial infarction and 1 (4.2%) access-related complications in the
fluoroscopic group. There were no deaths. The overall incidence rate of
all procedure-related complications (6.2% vs . 18.1%, p
= .153) at mean 22.2±4.5 months follow-up was statistically similar.
Conclusion In patients with AF of high risk for use of contrast
agents, LAAC under non-fluoroscopic guidance appears feasible and safe
with similar outcomes to that under fluoroscopic guidance.