Patient-specific catheter shaping for the minimally invasive closure of the left atrial appendage.

Purpose: The minimally invasive closure of the left atrial appendage is a promising alternative to anticoagulation for stroke prevention in patients suffering from atrial fibrillation. One of the challenges of this procedure is the correct positioning and the coaxial alignment of the tip of the catheter sheath to the implant landing zone.

Method: In this paper, a novel preoperative planning system is proposed that allows patient-individual shaping of catheters to facilitate the correct positioning of the catheter sheath by offering a patient-specific catheter shape.