HPA Alvor’s “heart team” has performed the closure of a left atrial appendage
A new cardiac treatment has been performed for the first time at the HPA private hospital in Alvor.
Using percutaneous intervention (a minimally-invasive procedure through the groin that does not resort to surgery), the “heart team” at HPA Alvor has successfully performed the closure of a left atrial appendage.
“Atrial fibrillation is a very common arrhythmia and is related to high rates of morbidity and mortality due to its thromboembolic potential and the consequent risk of a cerebrovascular accident (CVA),” explains HPA. “The left atrial appendage (LAA) is a small bag-shaped structure located in the left atrium and is responsible for the formation of most thrombus associated with atrial fibrillation, which may later embolize (migrate) and cause a stroke,” it adds.
“In this procedure (LAA closure), a device is placed at the entrance to the left atrial appendage, closing it (“excluding” it), with the aim of reducing the risk of embolization of thrombus formed in the LAA and consequently reducing the risk of stroke caused by atrial fibrillation,” the private hospital adds.
While oral anticoagulants are the “first-line treatment for these patients,” it is not always possible to administer this medication as “some patients have contraindications, leaving them at an increased risk of stroke.”
The patient selection for this procedure is carried out using “strict criteria, namely patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation who have a contraindication or intolerance to oral anticoagulants, patients with a high bleeding risk, or a history of bleeding, and also those with suboptimal therapy with oral anticoagulants.” As the private hospital group points out, with this new procedure, this group of patients has another possibility of treatment to reduce their risk of having a stroke.
HPA Alvor adds that it has been a national leader when it comes to Interventional Cardiology in the national panorama of private medicine since 2001, and is where minimally invasive interventions by catheterisation, such as angioplasties or percutaneous implantation of aortic or mitral valves (a technique known as TAVI, Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation), were first performed in the region.
