JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Nearly six million Americans suffer from Atrial fibrillation. It's the most common type of irregular heartbeat. A common treatment is blood thinners but those don't work for everyone for different reasons. Now there's a procedure that's allowing patients to get off blood thinners and minimize their risk for stroke. Freddy Simmons, 58, has had a lot of cardiac problems.
"He's had stents and he's had a stroke in the past," said St. Vincent's Chief Cardiologist Dr. Saumil Oza.
He also has had bleeding in his stomach which doesn't make him a good candidate for long-term blood thinners. Simmons got the Watchman procedure done to prevent another stroke from happening. It goes in the part of the heart where 90 percent of stroke-causing blood clots come from, the left atrial appendage.
"What we do with the Watchman is plug off that area, using a very minimally invasive approach, basically needle sticks in a vein in the leg, and we're able to thread that device into the heart and place it in the appropriate spot," said Dr. Oza.
Dr. Oza works with a team to make sure the Watchman device is in the best spot for maximum results. Eventually, heart tissue will grow over the implant and the appendage will permanently be sealed.
"There's really no pain receptors in the heart, so, you really shouldn't feel anything. A lot of patients ask me if I even did anything then I show them proof by showing them pictures, but other than that you often don't know," said Dr. Oza.
Patients, like Mr. Simmons, stay in the hospital overnight but are encouraged to start getting up six hours after surgery. Dr. Oza says this procedure provides a great way to help more people deal with heart disease.
"It really gives us a way to approach a-fib from many different angles and many cardiac diseases from many different angles in order to give the patient a tailored treatment that allows them to live a normal life," said Dr. Oza.
Dr. Oza has done more than 120 of these procedures. He says 90 percent of patients are off blood thinners in 45 days.