Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defects Without Fluoroscopy Feasibility of a New Method

Background—In an effort to reduce x-ray exposure, we developed a technique for transcatheter closure of atrial septal defects under echocardiographic guidance without fluoroscopy. To assess the efficiency of this procedure for routine use, we compared our initial results with those for the conventional procedure. Methods and Results—Twenty-two randomly selected patients (median age 18 years; range 2 to 66 years) with atrial septal defects (n=13) or patent foramen ovale (n=9) underwent cardiac catheterization for possible interventional defect closure with echocardiography as the only imaging tool. Median stretched diameter was 9 mm (range 6 to 26 mm); median left-to-right shunt over the atrial septal defects was Qp/Qs=1.8 (range 1.5 to 2.6). An Amplatzer septal occluder was successfully implanted in 19 defects without fluoroscopy and in 3 with the help of radiography. After 1 month, complete defect closure was documented in all patients. Compared with the conventional procedure of a control group of 131 p...