Objectives: Oral anticoagulation therapy (OAC) is often contraindicated in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) because of the high hemorrhagic risk. Left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) can prevent thromboembolic events while avoiding long-term anticoagulation. However, a short period of antithrombotic therapy (AT) is still recommended after LAAO, and, therefore, it is unclear whether patients with CAA can be candidates for LAAO. The aim of the study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of LAAO in patients with CAA and AF.
Methods: In this sub-study of the LOGIC (Left atrial appendage Occlusion in patients with Gastrointestinal or IntraCranial bleeding) registry, the authors considered only patients with previous intracranial (IC) bleeding, and patients with CAA were compared with patients who did not have CAA. Outcomes of interest were death from any causes and cardiovascular death, ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attack and systemic embolization, and any bleeding and major bleeding at 12 months.
Results: The analysis included 270 patients, 49 (18%) of whom had CAA. Patients with CAA were more frequently discharged without AT after LAAO compared with patients who did not have CAA (36.7% vs 6.8%, P less than .001), and this was confirmed at the 1-year follow-up (30.4% vs 14.1%, P = .001). There were no significant differences in all-cause or cardiovascular mortality, or ischemic or hemorrhagic endpoints at 1 and 12 months.
Conclusions: LAAO seems to be safe and effective in reducing both ischemic and hemorrhagic risk in patients with AF and CAA. Although patients with CAA are more likely to be discharged without AT after LAAO, there are no significant differences in ischemic and hemorrhagic outcomes compared with patients with a history of IC bleeding from other causes.
Keywords: antithrombotic therapy; atrial fibrillation; cerebral amyloid angiopathy; intracranial bleeding; left atrial appendage occlusion.