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Minimally invasive technique repaired congenital defect
A doctor repaired a patient’s heart using an Amplatzer Muscular Ventricular Septal Defect Occluder closure device.
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A new technique and device can help fix a congenital ventricular septal defect in patients born with the condition.
Researchers at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Calif. completed a procedure on a patient’s heart using only a small incision for access. A team of surgeons completed the procedure in an 18-year-old from San Diego who had been born with tetralogy of Fallot between the lower two chambers of the heart. The surgical team repaired a torn patch that had been placed across the defect during the patient’s childhood by replacing it with a ventricular septal defect occlusion device.
It was the first procedure done in California using the Amplatzer Muscular Ventricular Septal Defect Occluder (AGA Medical Corp.). The device consists of a dime-sized disc of nitinol wire mesh covered in a polyester fabric stitched together with a polyester thread. The Amplatzer device also has radiopaque markers at each end and is delivered through a small incision using either a 45° or 180° Amplatzer TorqVue delivery system. The discs are also available in a variety of sizes.
The procedure was completed by Farhouch Berdjis, MD, medical director of the adult congenital program at St. Joseph Hospital.
“I am pleased that her procedure was successful in repairing the defect in her heart,” Berdjis said in a press release. “This procedure showcases a minimally invasive procedure that is available to congenital heart defect patients throughout the community that has phenomenal results.”
There is a growing appreciation that many procedures in adult and adolescent patients with congenital heart disease can have cardiac repair done using either minimally invasive approaches, like the one here, or percutaneous approaches involving no surgical incision. Combination approaches, where part of the repair is performed by a percutaneous method and part is performed using a minimally invasive surgical approach, are also being offered in many medical centers. This latter concept has spurred on many to develop hybrid cardiac catheterization laboratories where both types of approaches can be safely and effectively performed by a team consisting of both the invasive cardiologist and the cardiac surgeon. This story is simply another example of how this approach is being applied successfully.
– Thomas Bashore, MD
Cardiology Today Editorial Board member