Introduction Isolated congenital absence of the left atrial appendage (LAA) is a rare condition. The diagnosis results from a review of the past medical and surgical history in addition to the use of multimodality imaging, as several other conditions (thrombotic occlusion, surgical or percutaneous exclusion, variations in morphology and relative position of anatomic structures) may present with...

Arthropods dominate our seas, land, and air and have done so for hundreds of millions of years. Among the arthropods, crustaceans present us with a rich history of morphological change, much of which is still represented among extant forms. Crustacea largely interact with their environment via their appendages; thus vast amounts of variation exist among the different appendages of a single indi...

The left atrial appendage (LAA) has been identified as a predominant source of thrombus formation leading to significant thromboembolic events in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. Medical therapy to eliminate thrombus formation in the LAA has been the standard of care for several decades, but mechanical approaches designed to exclude the LAA from the circulation have recently been ...

The safety and efficacy of a left atrial appendage closure device is currently under evaluation in a large-scale multi-center clinical trial. We report an initial case of left atrial appendage occluder device infection with Staphylococcus aureus; transesophageal echocardiography played a pivotal role in diagnosis and treatment.

Congenital intrapericardial aneurysmal dilatation of the left atrial appendage is a rare but correctable lesion. One such patient who underwent aneurysmectomy is described, and the literature is reviewed.

Corresponding author: Radosław Pracoń MD, PhD, Coronary and Structural Heart Diseases Department, Institute of Cardiology, 42 Alpejska St, 04-628 Warsaw, Poland, phone: +48 504 211 12, e-mail: [email protected] Received: 2.02.2015, accepted: 2.02.2015. How to walk the tightrope between harm and protection in selecting the optimal antiplatelet treatment strategy after transcatheter left atria...

T he paper by Koskinas et al. (1) in this issue of JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions describes a large series of left atrial appendage closures (LAAC) and very early outcomes data. The authors’ experience is admirable, dates back to the very beginning of endovascular LAAC, and incorporates a now obsolete device (Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Transcatheter Occlusion [PLAATO]) and a largely...

The left atrial appendage (LAA) has recently been recognized as a potential source of arrhythmia in patients undergoing repeat ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation (AF). In this case report we describe sustained fibrillation contained entirely within the LAA, that continued even after electrical isolation of the LAA was performed. This case supports the concept that in selected patients ...