Transfemoral and perventricular device occlusions and surgical repair for doubly committed subarterial ventricular septal defects

Abstract

Background Transfemoral and perventricular device occlusions are performed for doubly committed subarterial ventricular septal defect (dcVSD) to reduce the invasiveness of the conventional surgical repair through a median sternotomy. Few comparative studies have been conducted of these three procedures. Methods Inpatients with isolated dcVSD who had undergone transfemoral and perventricular device occlusions or conventional surgical repair from January 2009 to June 2013 were reviewed to compare the three procedures. Results Procedure success was achieved in 33 transfemoral (66%), in 74 perventricular (94.9%), and in 205 repair (97.6%) procedures. The transfemoral group had the lowest success rate (p < 0.001), whereas the perventricular and repair groups had similar success rates (p = 0.418). Transfemoral patients were the oldest (p < 0.001) and had a dcVSD size similar to that of patients in other two groups (p = 0.518). The repair group required the longest hospitalization and longest stays in the intensive care unit (p < 0.001), required the longest operating room and mechanical ventilation times (p < 0.001), and had the highest rate of transfusion (p < 0.001). Major adverse events occurred in one transfemoral (3%), in two perventricular (2.7%), and in three repair (1.4%) procedures. Minor adverse events were absent in transfemoral (0%) and occurred in three perventricular (4%) and 14 repair (6.7%) procedures. No significant difference was noted in the rates of adverse events the three groups (p = 0.569). No grade 3 valvular regurgitation or complete atrioventricular block was observed in the studied patients. Conclusions Device occlusion may be an alternative to surgical repair in selected patients with dcVSD. Perventricular occlusion was the preferred approach because it showed a higher success rate than transfemoral occlusion.