Efficacy of four different left atrial appendage closure techniques during cardiac surgery-A transesophageal echocardiography follow-up study.

Objective: Closure of the left atrial appendage (LAA) is a routine part of atrial fibrillation ablation surgery and significantly reduces stroke rates. Different LAA-closure techniques are used in cardiac surgery with variable results reported. We therefore evaluated the efficacy of 4 different LAA-closure techniques in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.