Device Delivery
Once the sheath had traversed the neck of the LAA opening, a small
amount of contrast dye was injected to assess the depth of the remaining
part of the LAA. WATCHMAN devices were deployed by advancing the sheath
deeper into the LAA over a pigtail catheter until the sheath depth
within the LAA was adequate for WATCHMAN placement. The sheath was then
slowly retracted to deliver the WATCHMAN device behind the residual
connection to the LAA (Figure 1C, 1E ). For the Amplatzer
devices, the sheath was advanced into the LAA and the distal disc of the
Amplatzer was exposed from the sheath. The device was then retracted
until it was seated against the LAA side of the residual connection. The
delivery sheath was then slowly withdrawn to expose the proximal disc of
the device on the LA side of the connection (Figure 2C, 2E ).