Aims: Percutaneous left atrial appendage closure with Amplatzer(®) Cardiac Plug (St. Jude Medical Inc.) for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation is rapidly propagating. We sought to provide additional safety data.
Methods and results: We have screened our database of patients having been treated with Amplatzer(®) Cardiac Plug and found 3 cases with uncommon complications that have not been reported previously. One patient experienced an embolisation of the occluder about 12 months after implantation that potentially resulted from mismatch of occluder size and landing zone. Another patient developed cardiac tamponade 9 days after implantation. This case of delayed effusion was probably not a result of interventional trauma, but might have been provoked by scratching of the inner pericardial membrane. A third patient developed a large thrombus in the left atrium which was considered to be caused by injury of the endothelial wall during implantation. The first two cases could be treated by a percutaneous procedure, the last case by cardiac surgery without any sequelae.
Conclusions: Complications after left atrial appendage closure not related to a device-related thrombus can occur later after implantation. With appropriate percutaneous or surgical management these complications can be handled without sequelae.