Watchman Device Procedure Can Prevent Stroke

Mercy Health - Cincinnati, which provides advanced, quality, compassionate care in your neighborhood through its care network, announces that cardiologists with Mercy Health – The Heart Institute have a revolutionary stroke prevention treatment available for patients with Atrial fibrillation, or A-fib.

Following extensive training, Mercy Health Physicians Reza Mehzad, MD, Shervin Sadrpour, MD, RP Singh, MD and Anil Verma, MD have implanted patients successfully with the Watchman device. They perform the procedure at The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health. The procedure involves the onetime placement of the Watchman implant to prevent potentially dangerous strokes associated with A-fib.

A-fib is a condition that causes the left atria to quiver, allowing clot formation in the left atrial appendage. The left atrial appendage is a small pouch that sits in the muscle wall of the top left chamber of the heart. Clots that form in the appendage are at risk of dislodging and traveling to the brain which can cause a stroke.

The Watchman device, which is shaped like a jellyfish, prevents the formation of clots, protecting patients from stroke.

Candidates for the Watchman device include patients who:

• can’t be on longer term anti-clotting medications
• are prone to bleeding and falls
• experience bleeding events

Cardiologists introduce the Watchman through the femoral vein in a procedure that takes about two hours from start to finish. Most patients leave the hospital within 24 hours and are off anticoagulant medication within six months.

For more information, please contact:

• Dr. Mehzad, Mercy Health - The Heart Institute, Fairfield and West, 513-751-4222
• Dr. Sadrpour, Mercy Health – The Heart Institute, Kenwood and Rookwood, 513-985-0741
• Dr. Singh, Mercy Health – The Heart Institute, Anderson and Clermont, 513-624-2070
• Dr. Verma, Mercy Health – The Heart Institute, West and Harrison, 513-215-9200