Doctors test heart implant to block strokes
Washington, Nov 28- Every year at least 120,000Americans and several million outside the United States sufferstrokes because of a common irregular heartbeat, one that ison the ascendancy, is hard to treat and can shoot deadly blood
clots straight to the brain.Now doctors are experimenting with a new way to preventthose brain attacks: a tiny device that seals off a littlesection of the jiggling heart where the clots form.If it works _ a major study is under way to determinethat _ the Watchman device might provide long-neededprotection for thousands of people with atrial fibrillation,whose main hope now is a problematic blood-thinning drug thattoo many cannot tolerate."I don't think I'm biased, but it could potentiallyrevolutionise a-fib, which is a ton of people," said Dr.Steven Almany, vice chief of cardiology at William BeaumontHospital in Michigan. He has implanted the Watchman into morethan a dozen patients so far.About 2.8 million Americans have atrial fibrillation, themost common type of irregular heartbeat. It is most commonamong the elderly, and cases are increasing as the populationgrays.A-fib occurs when the heart's top chambers, called theatria, become unsynchronized with the bottom chambers'pumping. The atria speed up, sometimes so fast that theyquiver like a bag of worms. Blood pools inside a pocket of theheart, which allows clots to form.About 20 per cent of the nation's strokes are blamed onthe condition, and they tend to be particularly severe. Abouta third of the victims die, and another third aresignificantly disabled, Almany says.