Procedural, Short-Term, and Intermediate-Term Outcomes in Propensity-Matched Patients With Severe Mitral Valve Regurgitation Undergoing Urgent Versus Elective MitraClip Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair.

Objective: The study authors sought to compare outcomes in patients with severe mitral valve regurgitation (MR) undergoing urgent, as compared to elective, mitral valve repair employing MitraClip. They hypothesized that, compared to elective cases, MitraClip procedures performed for urgent indications would be associated with increased intraoperative and postoperative complications but have similar long-term outcomes.

Design: A retrospective chart review with 3:1 propensity score matching of elective-to-urgent cases.

Supraglottic airway versus endotracheal tube for transesophageal echocardiography guided watchman procedures.

Context: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in adults. For over 90% of non-valvular AF patients, the left atrial appendage is the primary site of thrombus formation. Left atrial appendage occlusion using the FDA-approved Watchman™ device has been shown to have better clinical outcomes with minimal post-procedural complications when compared to warfarin therapy for patients with contraindications to anticoagulation.