RT Book, Section A1 Saw, Jacqueline A1 Buchbinder, Maurice A2 Samady, Habib A2 Fearon, William F. A2 Yeung, Alan C. A2 King III, Spencer B. SR Print(0) ID 1146604035 T1 Percutaneous Left Atrial Appendage Closure T2 Interventional Cardiology, 2e YR 2017 FD 2017 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9780071820363 LK accesscardiology.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1146604035 RD 2024/03/28 AB Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in adults with a current prevalence estimated at 1.5% to 2% of the general population. With the aging population in the United States, AF prevalence is projected to increase steadily from approximately 6 million cases in 2010 to 15.9 million by 2050.1 AF is a major cause of stroke, being responsible for 15% of all strokes and 30% of strokes in patients over age 80.2 Unfortunately, stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability and the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.3,4 The presence of AF is associated with a 4- to 5-fold risk of ischemic stroke,5 and the incidence increases significantly with advancing age. Moreover, strokes associated with AF are more severe; AF-related stroke victims have a 50% greater likelihood of becoming disabled or handicapped and a >50% likelihood of death.6,7 Accordingly, stroke prevention with anticoagulation is one of the main pillars of AF management, and guidelines for anticoagulation have become more stringent recently. The Canadian Cardiovascular Society had lowered their threshold for recommending oral anticoagulation (OAC) for CHADS2 (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age 75 years, diabetes mellitus, stroke) score ≥1, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) for CHA2DS2-VASc (congestive heart failure, hypertension, age ≥75 years, diabetes mellitus, stroke/transient ischemic attack, vascular disease, age 65-74 years, sex category) score ≥1, and the American College of Cardiology (ACC) for CHA2DS2-VASc score ≥2.1,8-10