Haemostasis After Venous Access in Atrial Fibrillation Catheter Ablation: The HARNESS Trial

Exclusion Criteria

• •≤ 18 years of age
• •Planned bilateral femoral venous access
• •Planned femoral arterial access
• •Any haematoma at planned puncture site prior to femoral sheath insertion
• •Established diagnosis of any haematologic disorder or genetic defect predisposing to bleeding
• •Inability to perform adequate consent:
• •* Communication issues (e.g. mental capacity, forgotten glasses)
• •* Inadequate time for the participant to read and consider trial
• •* Unscheduled Urgent or Emergency procedures
• •Patients who are scheduled to be transferred to other hospitals ("treat and return") before haemostasis is achieved.
• •Electronic patient record technical failure leading to an inability to record participants' care
• •Sizeable (\>5cm) puncture-related haematoma requiring manual compression prior to femoral venous sheath removal
• •Presence of femoral arterial sheath
• •Clinically suspected femoral arterial puncture
• •Patient leaving lab with femoral venous sheath in situ
• •Randomisation system not available
• •A change in patient's clinical condition during procedure deemed by the operator sufficient to exclude from the trial
• •Procedural complication requiring procedure termination