Guideline Video

Guideline Resources

  • Title: Transcatheter Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion
  • Society:  The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) and The Heart Rhythm Society (HRS)
  • Publish Date: August 4, 2025
  • Summary
  • Full-text

Video Transcription

Just published August 4th, 2025 The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions and Heart Rhythm Society’s newest guideline on Transcatheter Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion.

The objective of this guideline is to to support clinicians, patients, and other stakeholders in management decisions regarding Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion (LAAO).

There are 8 recommendations so let’s get started.

  1. For patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and contraindication to  oral anticoagulation (OAC), the guideline suggests LAAO over no therapy.
  2. For patients with NVAF who have decided to pursue stroke prevention treatment, the guideline suggests OAC or LAAO as treatment options.
  3. For patients with NVAF who are undergoing LAAO, the guideline suggests obtaining preprocedurural TEE or cardiac CT instead of omitting preprocedurural TEE or CT
  4. For patients with NVAF who have decided to undergo LAAO, the guideline suggests either ICE or TEE imaging during the procedure
  5. The guideline suggests either postprocedural OAC or dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) for patients undergoing LAAO
    1. The  guideline makes no recommendation about the use of single antiplatelet therapy vs any other antithrombotic regimen post-LAAO
  6. For patients with NVAF who have undergone LAAO, the guideline suggests postprocedural TEE or CT over no postprocedural TEE or CT
  7. The guideline makes no recommendation regarding the use of OAC in adults with a PDL after LAAO
  8. For adults with DRT following LAAO, the guideline suggests OAC rather than no OAC
    1. The guideline makes no recommendation about the optimal duration of OAC and the timing of repeat imaging to assess for PDL and DRT

And there you have it. Make sure to check out the full guideline from The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions and The Heart Rhythm Society and other related clinical decision support tools at guidelinecentral.com.

Copyright © 2025 Guideline Central, all rights reserved.