Dr. Daniel Friedman, MD, FHRS, FACC, and his team, recently completed a procedure where he performed both a catheter ablation followed by a left atrial appendage closure where he placed a Watchman® implant. The procedure was performed in the Cath Lab at Manatee Memorial Hospital (MMH). The procedure treats atrial fibrillation with an ablation then closes the appendage, so the patient is no longer dependent on blood thinners. Doctors recommend taking blood thinners after ablation for atrial fibrillation (a type of irregular heartbeat) in patients who have a high risk of stroke. Another option is left atrial appendage closure, a mechanical procedure that can replace the need for blood thinners. However, until recently, there has not been much information about using this procedure after ablation. To address this, the international OPTION trial that included 1,600 patients with moderate to high risk for stroke, determined that the left atrial appendage closure can safely reduce the risk of bleeding from blood thinners while still keeping a low risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation who have had catheter ablation.