NCT03724318 (LAACS-2) is a NA clinical trial of closure of the left atrium appendage in Stroke, Ischemic, sponsored by Helena DOMINGUEZ.

Who is sponsoring NCT03724318?

NCT03724318 is sponsored by Helena DOMINGUEZ.

What drugs are being tested in NCT03724318?

Interventions in NCT03724318: closure of the left atrium appendage.

What condition does NCT03724318 study?

NCT03724318 studies Stroke, Ischemic, Atrial Fibrillation.

Is NCT03724318 still recruiting?

NCT03724318 is currently active, enrolled. Last updated 16 January 2026.

Last reviewed 2026-01-16 · How we verify

NCT03724318: LAACS-2

Name: Drug Landscape Pharmaceutical Database
Creator: Drug Landscape
Published: 2026-01-01
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Left Atrial Appendage Closure by Surgery-2

Active, enrolled NA Last updated 16 January 2026

What this trial tests

NA trial testing closure of the left atrium appendage in Stroke, Ischemic in 1,500 participants. Participants enrolled and being followed up; not accepting new ones.

Timeline

17 March 2019

Primary endpoint
31 October 2025

31 October 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsor	Helena DOMINGUEZ
Phase	NA
Status	Active, enrolled
Study type	INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation	randomized
Design	parallel
Masking	single
Primary purpose	prevention
Enrollment	1,500
Start date	17 March 2019
Primary completion	31 October 2025
Estimated completion	31 October 2026
Sites	4 locations across Denmark, Spain, Sweden

Drugs / interventions tested

closure of the left atrium appendage

Conditions studied

Stroke, Ischemic — all drugs for Stroke, Ischemic →
Atrial Fibrillation — all drugs for Atrial Fibrillation →

Sponsor

Helena DOMINGUEZ

Who can join

18 and older, any sex, with Stroke, Ischemic or Atrial Fibrillation. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Sponsor's own description

Atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder that often occurs after heart surgery. During atrial fibrillation blood cloths may form, predominantly in the left atrial appendage, a small sac in the wall of the left side of the heart. Some heart surgeons close this appendage to protect against stroke, particularly in patients with a history of atrial fibrillation, yet there is little evidence to support the efficacy and safety of this practice. We therefore conducted the Left Atrial Appendage Closure by Surgery (LAACS) study (2010-2016) were patients in whom the appendage was closed (by chance) suffered fewer brain damages that patients where it remained open. Although encouraging, these results were not only based on strokes, but also on scars without symptoms found in brain scans. The following LAACS-2 study will include a sufficient number of patients to determine whether future guidelines should advise to close systematically the left atrium appendage during a heart operation.

Publications & conference data

3 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

The left atrial appendage closure by surgery-2 (LAACS-2) trial protocol rationale and design of a randomized multicenter trial investigating if left atrial appendage closure prevents stroke in patients undergoing open-heart surgery irrespective of preoperative atrial fibrillation
Madsen CL, Park-Hansen J, Irmukhamedov A, Carranza CL, et al · · 2023 · cited 15× · PMID 37302738 · DOI 10.1016/j.ahj.2023.06.003
Left atrial appendage closure versus anticoagulation in the management of atrial fibrillation: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression analysis.
Singh G, Bamba H, Saravanan CR, Dinesh A, et al · · 2025 · PMID 41181448 · DOI 10.1097/ms9.0000000000003703
The left atrial appendage closure by surgery 2 trial: statistical analysis plan for a randomized multicenter trial exploring if the closure of the left atrial appendage during open-heart surgery reduces stroke irrespective of patients' stroke risk and preoperative atrial fibrilla
Madsen CL, Park-Hansen J, Hadad R, Greve AM, et al · · 2024 · PMID 38741218 · DOI 10.1186/s13063-024-08122-9

Verify or expand the search:

Other recruiting trials for Stroke, Ischemic

Currently open trials in the same condition.

NCT07456956 — HIIT vs MCIT for Stroke-Related Sarcopenia in Ischemic Stroke · NA · recruiting
NCT06658197 — Efficacy and Safety of Tenecteplase Bridging Mechanical Thrombectomy for Acute Large Vessel Occlusion Stroke · Phase 3 · recruiting
NCT07282041 — Role of GLP1 RA Dulaglutide on Severe Intracranial Atherosclerosis · Phase 2, PHASE3 · recruiting
NCT07135089 — Improving Neuroprotective Strategy for Ischemic Stroke Before Endovascular Thrombectomy by Intravenous Tirofiban · Phase 3 · recruiting
NCT07047014 — Advancing Reperfusion Therapy for Ischemic Stroke (ARTS): Tenecteplase in Medium Vessel Occlusion (MeVO) for Acute Ische · Phase 3 · recruiting

Other Helena DOMINGUEZ trials

Trials by the same sponsor.

NCT03962166 — Characterizing Patients With POAF in Relation to Cardiac Surgery by wavECG and TTE · active not recruiting

Verify against primary sources

ClinicalTrials.gov — authoritative US registry record
WHO ICTRP — international registry index
EU Clinical Trials Register
Sponsor press releases (Google)

Data sources for this page

Trial protocol + status: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03724318 (US National Library of Medicine, public domain)
Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 10 June 2026
Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by Helena DOMINGUEZ
Last refreshed: 16 January 2026

Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT03724318.

Primary sources · FDA · ClinicalTrials.gov · EMA · SEC EDGAR · ChEMBL · Wikidata · full sourcing