A patient at the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) who could not receive anticoagulant therapy underwent a procedure that has since been crowned a Canadian first. The procedure, performed by Dr. Adrian Petzl, not only addressed the patient’s atrial fibrillation but also neutralized a structure where 90 per cent of blood clots form — clots that can lead to stroke. “The procedure is faster and causes fewer side effects,” said Petzl, an Austrian-born cardiologist and electrophysiologist who pursued his career at the MHI Arrhythmia Centre. Atrial fibrillation is the most common form of arrhythmia. However, ablation, which can be performed to correct the problem, significantly increases the risk of clot formation, which is why anticoagulants are typically prescribed. Long-term anticoagulant therapy, however, may not always be appropriate because the patient, for various reasons, can be at an increased risk of bleeding. In such cases, two separate procedures must be performed: the first to ablate the atrial fibrillation and the second to neutralize the structure, the left atrial appendage, where the vast majority of clots originate. Petzl recently used two new devices developed by Abbott — the VOLT pulsed-field ablation catheter and the AMULET atrial appendage occlusion device — to address both issues in a single procedure. “(Patients) don’t need long-term anticoagulants because they’re well protected by this device,” explained Petzl. “We can treat both issues with a single procedure.” The procedure offers numerous benefits, including that it can be performed under sedation without general anesthesia as it is only minimally painful. In some cases, the patient can be discharged the same day. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 14, 2026.
