BCH becomes first to implant Watchman FLX

BOULDER — Boulder Community Health’s Foothills Hospital has become the first hospital in Colorado to offer patients new technology to treat non-valvular atrial fibrillation. 

Dr. Srinivas Iyengar and his structural heart and valve team successfully implanted the Watchman FLX  Pro Left Atrial Appendage Closure Device, which is designed to reduce stroke risk and serve as an alternative to the lifelong use of blood thinners for people with atrial fibrillation not caused by a heart valve problem.

The newest Watchman includes three new features — “a permanent device coating to promote faster healing time, an additional device size to treat the widest range of anatomies, and visualization markers to position and anchor the device with an enhanced level of accuracy,” BCH said in a press statement.  

“I’m very proud to have performed one of the first implants of the Watchman FLX Pro in Colorado at our facility, Foothills Hospital,” Iyengar said in a written statement. “This latest-generation Watchman device offers my patients a potentially life-changing stroke risk treatment and will allow us to treat a broad range of patients thanks to the expanded size matrix.”The Watchman technology has been implanted in more than 300,000 patients worldwide; it closes off an area of the heart called the left atrial appendage to keep blood clots that can form there from entering the blood stream and potentially causing a stroke. Over time, patients can stop oral anticoagulation therapy.

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