Safety and efficacy of percutaneous left atrial appendage closure / 医学研究生学报

Atrial fibrillation ( AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia in clinical practice and it is associated with an in-creased thromboembolism risk , due mainly to embolism from the left atrial appendage ( LAA) .Percutaneous left atrial appendage clo-sure ( PLAAC) provides a valid alternative to oral anticoagulation ( OAC) mainly in patients who cannot tolerate this therapy due to a high bleeding risk .Recent studies showed PLAAC can substantially reduce stroke incidence .This article reviews the safety and efficacy of PLAAC preventing thromboembolism by retrospectively analyzing related studies of PLAAC .

Association between plasma brain natriuretic peptide/N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels and atrial fibrillation: evidence from a meta-analysis / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Several small sample-size observational studies evaluated the association of plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) with atrial fibrillation (AF), but the results were contradictory. We aimed to perform a meta-analysis of relevant studies to evaluate the availability of this association.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>We performed an extensive literature search on PubMed, Web of Science (WOS) and the Cochrane Library databases. Pooled standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated to assess the strength of association using random effects models. We performed sensitivity and subgroup analyses to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity. We also estimated publication biases. Statistical analyses were performed using the STATA 12.0 software.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 11 studies including 777 cases and 870 controls were finally analyzed. Overall, the brain natriuretic peptide/N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels were higher in atrial fibrillation patients than controls without atrial fibrillation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>showed that the SMD in the natriuretic peptide levels between cases and controls was 2.68 units (95% CI 1.76 to 3.60); test for overall effect z-score = 5.7 (P < 0.001). There was significant heterogeneity between individual studies (I(2) = 97.8%; P < 0.001). Further analysis revealed that differences in the assay of natriuretic peptide possibly account for this heterogeneity.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Increased BNP/NT-proBNP levels were associated with the presence of atrial fibrillation. This finding indicates that BNP/NT-proBNP may prove to be a biomarker of an underlying predisposition to AF.</p>