Intracardiac echocardiography for guidance of transcatheter left atrial appendage occlusion: An expert consensus document
Sérgio Berti, Luigi Emilio Pastormerlo, Kasper Korsholm, Jacqueline Saw, Mohamad Alkhouli, Marco P. Costa, Jacob Odenstedt, Erik JS Packer, Claudio Tondo, Gennaro Santoro, Jens Erik Nielsen‐Kudsk
Abstract
Transcatheter left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) is an increasingly used alternative to oral anticoagulation in selected patients with atrial fibrillation. Intraprocedural imaging is a crucial for a successful intervention, with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) as the current gold standard. Since some important limitations may affect TEE use, intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is increasingly used as an alternative to TEE for guiding LAAO. The lack of a standardized imaging protocol has slowed the adoption of ICE into clinical practice. On the basis of current research and expert consensus, this paper provides a protocol for ICE support of left atrial appendage occlusion.