AtriCure Reports First Human Implant of the Cosgrove-Gillinov Left Atrial Appendage Occlus...( WEST CHESTER Ohio Sept. 10 /- Atr...),Health

WEST CHESTER, Ohio, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AtriCure, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRC), a medical device company focused on developing, manufacturing and selling innovative cardiac surgical devices, announced today that its Cosgrove-Gillinov Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion System was successfully implanted during an open-heart surgical procedure performed by Professor Michele Genoni and Dr. Sacha Salzberg of The University of Zurich in Switzerland with the support of Dr. Marc Gillinov of the Cleveland Clinic.

Professor Genoni commented, "We were encouraged with the initial implant of the Cosgrove-Gillinov Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion System. It was easy and rapid to implant and we were able to safely and completely occlude the left atrial appendage." Dr. Gillinov commented, "We look forward to the continued investigation of the system as an effective and safe means of occluding the left atrial appendage."

It has been estimated that fifteen to twenty percent of all strokes are attributable to atrial fibrillation (AF). The Cosgrove-Gillinov Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion System is a clip device that is designed to occlude the left atrial appendage, a hollow sac-like structure attached to the heart's left atrium. The left atrial appendage has internal peaks and valleys, or trabeculations. During AF, stagnant blood pools in the trabeculations of the left atrial appendage and is known to form clots that can migrate to other parts of the body. Published literature suggests that the majority of cardiac clots in patients with AF form in the left atrial appendage, which some physicians believe is associated with AF-related strokes. The Cosgrove- Gillinov Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion System is designed to be im
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