One of the leading causes of stroke is atrial fibrillation, a condition which causes the upper two chambers of the heart to beat irregularly. In atrial fibrillation, the electrical impulses that are normally generated by the sinoatrial node are replaced by disorganized activity in the atria, leading to irregular conduction of impulses to the ventricles that generate the heartbeat. The result is an irregular heartbeat. Usually atrial fibrillation is asymptomatic but can result in palpitations, fainting, chest pain, or congestive heart failure. For these reasons, patients are at a 2-7 percent higher risk of stroke. Often patients are treated with medicine to slow down the heart beat or with anticoagulants. These anticoagulants come with their own risks and generally require frequent blood tests. Reasearchers have developed a potential alternative to these treatments called The Watchman procedure. For this procedure they place a small, parachute-like device near the left appendage of the heart. Once places, the device employs and blocks clots from leaving the heart and going to the brain.
The full article can be seen at
http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2005/1203-stopping_strokes.htm
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Apparently this Watchman is implanted specifically into the left atrial appendage, where oxygenated blood is returned to the heart. It seems like the Aorta might be the best place for such a device to completely screen everything leaving the heart, but the L.A.A. is the major location of thrombi in patients with Atrial fibrillation. I wonder whether this surgical treatment(though it is minimally invasive and takes less than an hour) really outweighs the benefits from medical treatments with antiarrhymatics and anticoagulants or the new ablation methods of treating A.F. Other than this article... (http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/full/50/9/914) i really didnt see any studies showing complications or poor success rates
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