I've had 2 ablations with Dr. Natale in Austin, TX over the past 3 years, and excellent care for both. In the last one, Dr. N. ablated additional tissue but mainly prepared my LAA area for a future Watchman. The 2nd ablation was in August, 2024. The Watchman procedure has been scheduled with Natale for mid June. / I live in Los Angeles and have never minded flying to Texas. But a part of me has been having second thoughts about this 3rd trip to Austin. Kind of a gut wisdom. (I've no reservations about the Texas clinic or Dr. Natale--they are wonderful). However, I also trust inner nudges, especially when they are constant. Very recently, a local nurse practitioner told me about a local EP named Dr. Doshi. Evidently he's excellent with Watchmans. (I've made an initial consultation w/ him in a few weeks).. If he were to do the Watchman procedure for me, I'd have follow up TEES close by, instead of going to Los Robles in Thousand Oaks where they'd administer them as a courtesy for Dr. Natale. / I wanted to ask this group if anyone is familiar with Dr. Doshi with the Pacific Heart Institute in Santa Monica.

I would fly to Austin and use Natale …but I do understand reservations and second thoughts because I declined a left ventricular PVC ablation which probably may had prevented my cardiomyopathy because of doubts about its success if I went through with it.

Natale was presented with many challenges when he implanted my watchman. I had a bent twisted vein while doable for catheter use or ablations, a watchman is bigger. He spent time carefully getting it to my LAA . Then my LAA has an unusual long sloping shoulder which he skillfully manage to seal.

For watchman’s I feel Natale is a skilled magician. I even went home 3-4 hours after the procedure and didn’t spend the night.

Good luck with your decision.

I looked up Dr. Doshi and I think he would be an excellent choice for a Watchman device. As good as Natale is, I don't think he's implanted as many as Doshi.

Keep in mind that implanting a Watchman isn't an ablation. It's far, far simpler and really quite easy in comparison, and he's one of the most experienced implanters worldwide. Unlike ablations, I'd say that once you've done 1000 Watchmans, doing another 5000 isn't going to make much difference, so I doubt that Natale has much of an edge here.

I don't mean to disagree with Susan, but she was a much more complex case, and as I recall you should be fairly straightforward.

I didn’t know he existed.

Dr. Shephal K. Doshi, M.D., Executive Medical Director The Edward and Mary White Endowed Chair in Electrophysiology Dr. Doshi, the executive medical director of Providence Saint John’s Heart and Vascular Institute and director of the Sandra & Vin Scully Heart Rhythm Center, is a leading expert in interventional therapies for arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation (A-fib) and ventricular tachycardia. He remains active in cutting-edge ablation research involving different forms of ablation energy including the groundbreaking pulse field ablation (PFA). He has been a principal investigator (PI) in studies involving various PFA technologies and previously, in balloon catheter ablation and contact force sensing ablation for atrial fibrillation. He has a long list of firsts in cardiac electrophysiology, including performing the first pulse field ablation procedures in the Greater Los Angeles Area, marking a significant milestone in the treatment of A-fib. He is also the first in the nation to implant the WATCHMAN device after FDA approval in 2015.

Susan and Carey, thanks very much for your comments, and Susan, for adding the blurb aobut Dr. Doshi. / Carey, I appreciate your words and will take them to 'heart'. :>) I meet Dr. Doshi on the 21st, then will make a decision. It could be that circumstances have fallen into place to offer me this more local opportunity.

I went to Northwestern in Chicago for a watchman and they ended up aborting the procedure as none of the devices provided a good occlusion for my LAAafter 3 hours of trying. Now they are recommending the Amulet. Has anyone else experienced this complication?

It happens and it's not really a complication; it's just that your anatomy must be unusual and none of the sizes of devices will fit you properly. The Amulet is made exactly for people like you.