Clinical efficacy and safety of the percutaneous treatment of secundum atrial septal defect with the Amplatzer occluder

OBJECTIVE: To assess the clinical efficacy and safety of the Amplatzer occluder for percutaneous closure of secundum atrial septal defect. METHODS: Forty-nine patients underwent the procedure guided by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) while under general anesthesia, afterwards being clinically followed up for 12 months. RESULTS: The defect presented as a single orifice in 91.8% of the cases. The means of the longitudinal and transverse diameters were 14.3±5.0 mm and 14.4±4.9 mm, respectively. The means of the stretched diameters and prostheses were 19.3±5.1 mm and 20.3±4.9 mm, respectively. Technical success occurred in 97.9% of the cases. Immediate residual flow was observed in 54.1% of the patients, being minimum or small in 45.8% and moderate in 8.3%. After 24 hours, residual flow was observed in 25% of the patients (P = 0.0002). At the end of 13.1±1.3 months, the incidence of the overall residual flow decreased to 14.6%, only 4.1% being moderate. A significant reduction in the right ventricular diastolic diameter was observed in the different phases of clinical follow-up (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Implantation of the Amplatzer prosthesis proved to be effective and safe, constituting an option for the treatment of the secundum atrial septal defect in selected cases.