The procedure was completed on a 2-year-old girl using the investigational Amplatzer® VSD Muscular Occluder. Dr. Trivedi and her team closed the hole by catheter technique, rather than resorting to open-heart surgery. After completing the procedure, Jack Copeland, MD, chief, Section of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, and co-director of the Sarver Heart Center, removed a pulmonary artery band that was used to control heart failure until the hole could be closed. Closure of the hole with the device significantly simplified the task of the surgical team and greatly reduced risks to the little girl.
"I'm delighted with the outcome of the procedure. The hole, in her particular case, was in a location that is difficult to close using surgical techniques. By using this new device, we were able to close the hole in the little girl's heart without her having to endure the difficulties of extensive open-heart surgery," said Dr. Trivedi. "The patient has been discharged and is doing well."
Ventricular Septal Defect is a congenital heart defect where the child is born with a hole in the wall that separates the right and left ventricles (pumping chambers) of the heart. Early in gestation, the right and left ventricles of the heart are not separate. As the fetus grows, a muscular wall forms to separate these lower heart chambers. If the wall fails to fully develop, a hole remains.
In most cases of babies born with this condition (80-90 percent), the hole is small and does not cause symptoms. As the muscular wall continues to grow after birth, the hole usually closes. However, with larger holes, an excessive amount of blood is pumped to the lungs causing congestive heart failure. Such larger holes may show no tendency toward spontaneous closure and eventually will require closure, which in the past only could be accomplished by open-heart surgery.
