Treating the rhythm and the clot source in one procedure
Atrial fibrillation (AF) makes the upper chambers of the heart quiver rather than contract in an organised way. The main danger is not the palpitations themselves but stroke: about 90% of AF-related blood clots form in a small ear-shaped pouch on the left atrium called the left atrial appendage. Long-term drug therapy is the standard stroke-prevention route, but in real-world practice fewer than 40% of patients on drugs alone stay adequately protected, and anticoagulants themselves carry a bleeding risk.
Fuwai Hospital reports that its team, led by vice-president and structural-heart specialist Pan Xiangbin, treats selected AF patients with a “one-stop” workflow that combines catheter ablation (to correct the irregular rhythm) with left atrial appendage closure (to seal off the clot source) in a single session. The hospital frames this as treating the “branch” (the rhythm) and the “root” (the clot source) at the same time.
What the current generation of devices can and cannot do
First-generation left atrial appendage closure devices are rigid metal implants. The hospital describes three persistent problems with that design: a poor fit because every left atrial appendage has a different shape, a risk of injury from the barbs that anchor the device in the heart wall, and incomplete coverage of the metal surface by the patient’s own tissue (endothelialisation), which can itself become a source of clots.
As a second step, in 2024, the Fuwai team — using its own ultrasound-guided, radiation-free interventional technique — performed what it describes as the world’s first fully ultrasound-guided clinical implant of a bioabsorbable left atrial appendage closure device, at the Fuwai-affiliated Yunnan Provincial Fuwai Cardiovascular Hospital. The device is intended to be flexible enough to follow the heart’s motion and to be gradually replaced by the patient’s own tissue.
The longer-term roadmap: in-heart “3D printing”
In the same interview, Pan Xiangbin described the next direction: a magnetic fluid that is injected into the left atrial appendage through a catheter and then “printed” into the right shape under an external magnetic field, under ultrasound guidance. The idea is to make a custom cast of the patient’s own anatomy rather than fitting a standard device. According to the same source, the underlying animal studies were published in March 2026 (see our separate summary) and two-year follow-up has, in those animal models, shown stable implantation. The Fuwai team has indicated that first-in-human trials of the magnetic-fluid approach are expected to start within one to two years.
The one-stop ablation-plus-closure workflow is in clinical use at Fuwai. The fully ultrasound-guided bioabsorbable device is described as having completed its first clinical implant in 2024, but the source does not give numbers, follow-up duration or comparative outcomes against conventional devices. The magnetic-fluid “3D printing” approach is, as of the May 2026 interview, a preclinical research programme; it is not available to patients and is not a treatment option at any hospital.
What this may mean for patients
For people with AF who are already being considered for both ablation and left atrial appendage closure, a one-stop session can mean a single hospital admission, a single procedure and a single recovery, and avoids the cost and waiting time of a planned second procedure. Whether a one-stop workflow is appropriate depends on stroke risk, bleeding risk, left atrial appendage anatomy and overall cardiac function, and is decided by a multidisciplinary heart team. The bioabsorbable closure device and the magnetic-fluid approach are not yet routine care; they are best understood as directions Fuwai is developing, not options to request today.
Relevance to atrial fibrillation and stroke care
Atrial fibrillation and stroke prevention sit at the intersection of Wellward China’s Heart & Circulation and Brain & Nervous System health areas, because the same underlying heart condition produces most AF-related strokes. This summary is about treatment options, not about deciding any individual patient’s care.