This Article Abstract Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Blackshear, J. L. Articles by Schaff, H. V. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Blackshear, J. L. Articles by Schaff, H. V.

Thoracoscopic extracardiac obliteration of the left atrial appendage for stroke risk reduction in atrial fibrillation

Joseph L. Blackshear, MD^*,*, W. Dudley Johnson, MD, John A. Odell, MD^*, Vickie S. Baker, RN^*, Mary Howard, RN, Lesly Pearce, MS, Christopher Stone, MD, Douglas L. Packer, MD and Hartzell V. Schaff, MD

^* Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
W. Dudley Johnson Heart Care Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
Biostatistical Consultant, Minot, North Dakota, USA
Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA

View larger version (59K): [in a new window]   Figure 1 Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiographic images of the left atrial appendage before (left) and after (right) LAPTONI.

View larger version (21K): [in a new window]   Figure 2 Cumulative proportion of 15 patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) after surgical left atrial appendage obliteration (LAPTONI) without thromboembolism (straight line). The reference lines are based on thromboembolism rates for non-anticoagulated AF patients aged 65 to 75 years in the Atrial Fibrillation Investigators' (AFI) meta-analysis with at least one risk factor (upper dashed line) (1) and for non-anticoagulated AF patients of any age with a history of prior thromboembolism in AFI and the European Atrial Fibrillation Trial (EAFT) (bottom dashed line) (1,2).