WATCHMAN FLX designed to prevent movement of clots
Mon Health Medical Center was tapped by Boston Scientific, a developer of a device that reduces the risk of stroke for atrial fibrillation, to participate in a national clinical trial to test its latest version.
The device, called the WATCHMAN FLX, is a new edition of the WATCHMAN, a permanent heart implant that is placed on the left atrial appendage of the heart. It prevents blood clots from circulating in the body and traveling to the brain and causing a stroke and helps many heart patients get off blood thinners around 90% of the time.
The device, which can be implanted in about an hour via a non-invasive procedure through the groin, fits right into the left atrial appendage and is designed to close off this part of the heart, eliminating the need for blood thinners. More than 90 % of blood clots that come from the heart are formed in the LAA.
After receiving the WATCHMAN, the patient usually stays in the hospital overnight and goes home the next day.
The clinical trial Mon Health is participating with the WATCHMAN FLX is to determine if closure of the left atrial appendage is a reasonable option to the use of blood thinners to prevent stroke following heart ablation.
“We’re plugging into the appendage,” said Wissam Gharib, a structural heart cardiologist at Mon Health Heart & Vascular Center.
It takes roughly 45 to 60 days for the WATCHMAN FLX to be permanently embedded in the heart. That is the time it takes for the skin to grow over the device, which is the size of a quarter. Clinical trial results have found 92% of the patients were able to stop taking warfarin 45 days after surgery, and 99% were able to stop the medication a year after the procedure.
Signs of a stroke include sudden confusion understanding speech, or speaking; a sudden numbness or weakness in the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body; severe headache with no known cause; balance problems or difficulty walking, and vision problems in one or both eyes.
Mon Health Medical Center was recently recognized by the American College of Cardiology as the first and only hospital in West Virginia to earn accreditation for Afib with Electrophysiology Services. Mon Health was also the first hospital in the state to be selected by Boston Scientific for the clinical trial.
“The innovations and treatments being offered at our flagship hospital, Mon Health Medical Center, have the power to transform health care and we are proud to continue our long tradition of bringing the latest medical advances to the communities we serve,” Gharib said.
