Feasibility of Device Closure for Multiple Atrial Septal Defects With an Inferior Sinus Venosus Defect: Procedural...

Multiple atrial septal defects (ASD) with an inferior sinus venosus defect (SVD) have always been considered to be contraindications for interventional therapy. On the basis of early experience using a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) occluder for interventional treatment for inferior ASD, this study investigated the feasibility of transcatheter closure of multiple ASDs with an inferior SVD under the guidance of three-dimensional (3D) printed heart models.

Between August 2016 and February 2017, five patients who were diagnosed with multiple ASDs with an inferior SVD at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University underwent cardiac computed tomography (CT) scans and three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography to generate heart disease models by a 3D printing technique. The best occlusion program was determined through a simulated closure on the model. Percutaneous device closure of multiple ASDs with an inferior SVD was performed following the predetermined program, guided only by fluoroscopy. Follow-up included electrocardiography, transthoracic echocardiography, and transoesophageal echocardiography.

Three-dimensional (3D) printed models for all five patients were produced successfully. Four (4) patients had a secundum ASD with an inferior sinus venosus ASD, and one patient had a patent foramen ovale (PFO) with an inferior sinus venosus ASD. All patients were successfully treated with interventional therapy. Inferior sinus venosus ASD was percutaneously closed using the PDA occluder, and the additional secundum ASD or PFO in each patient was percutaneously closed using an ASD or PFO occluder at the same time. There was no device embolisation, procedure-related death or pericardial tamponade. During the 1-year follow-up, a minor residual shunt was detected in one patient.

The use of 3D printed ASD models provides a useful reference for transcatheter device closure of multiple ASD with an inferior SVD. This approach can provide a new treatment strategy for inferior sinus venosus ASD, which has been considered a contraindication for interventional therapy. However, long-term follow-up in a large number of patients is still warranted.