Ventricular septal defect closure

Summary

Isolated ventricular septal defect (VSD) is the most common congenital heart disease. Surgery has been performed for many years and remains the gold standard for the treatment of VSD.

However, it is associated with morbidity and mortality. Less invasive techniques have been developed in last fifteen years and the currently available data shows that percutaneous closure of muscular and perimembranous VSD even complex VSD is a possible, safe and effective alternative to the standard surgical approach.

While the transcatheter approach can be considered as a first choice treatment in residual post-surgical VSD, significant limitations still exist in patients with acquired VSD such as post-myocardial infarction defects and traumatic VSD.

Introduction

Ventricular septal defects are the commonest congenital cardiac disease, accounting for almost one-fifth of all malformations 11. Rudolph, A.M., Ventricular septal defect, in Congenital Diseases of the Heart: Clinical-Physiological Considerations, 3rd Edition, A.M. Rudolph, Editor. 2009, Wiley-Blackwell- p-148-178. Link. The ventricular septum may be divided into the inlet, outlet, trabecular and membranous portions. Of these septal defects, seventy percent are located in the area of the membranous septum, with variable anatomical extension towards the inlet, outlet or apical components of the right ventricle. These perimembranous defects...