Consulting fees and other vendor payments do not appear to be directly influencing U.S. physicians to implant more Watchman devices. Researcher Alexander Kolomaya, MD, discussed his team's findings on this topic.

A catheter sheath detached during use and was left in the patient’s body. It was successfully removed, but the FDA said it is now evaluating the potential risk to others going forward. There is no official recall at this time.

The 55-year-old patient woke up experiencing chest pain one morning and an ambulance was called. He was dead just a few hours later. His family's lawsuit argued that delays in care, communication errors and other issues were directly responsible for his death.

CardioVia's ViaOne technology includes a blunt-tip needle that remains concealed to help interventional cardiologists and electrophysiologists treat cardiac arrhythmias with a reduced risk of perforation or any other complications. 

Using a left radial artery approach in the cath lab exposes interventional cardiologists to significantly less radiation than a hyper-adducted right radial artery approach. The difference is substantial enough for researchers to declare LRA "the primary access site for cardiac catheterization."