Atrial Fibrillation

The MRINZ’s established Cardiothoracic Research Programme, the Improving Outcomes After Cardiothoracic Surgery Network (IOACSNet), has been exploring the care of patients undergoing cardiac surgery at public hospitals across New Zealand.

An important international study in which the MRINZ played a key role is the LAAOS III trial. This trial has investigated whether left atrial appendage occlusion, the closing off of a redundant appendage in the heart, can reduce the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. The study shows that this simple procedure, which takes six minutes on average and is performed at the same time as undergoing heart surgery, reduces the risk of stroke by more than one third. These results have provided a new approach to stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation.

This global collaborative study highlights the impact that the work of the MRINZ’s IOACSNet cardiac surgeons, anaesthetists, intensivists, clinical perfusionists and researchers continue to have both locally and internationally.

Cardiac surgical patients are the main recipients of blood products, accounting for approximately half of all transfusions in surgical patients worldwide. The MRINZ has made a significant contribution to world-leading cardiac research showing that a restrictive blood transfusion strategy in patients undergoing cardiac surgery could both improve outcomes, and allow for better use of limited blood stock, reducing the strain on blood donation services.

— PROFESSOR DAVID MAZER, ST. MICHAEL’S HOSPITAL, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO, CANADA