Transcatheter closure has become a common treatment method for patent ductus arteriosus in premature infants at many centres; however, many remain uncertain about the ability to perform the procedure in the catheterisation laboratory for infants requiring high-frequency ventilation. This study presents our centre’s experience following the implementation of neonatal ventilatory guidelines, which resulted in 100% procedural success without any procedural or respiratory adverse events.

In this multi-centre study, the mid- to long-term efficacy and safety of the Amplatzer Piccolo Occluder in patent ductus arteriosus closure in premature and term infants as well as children were discussed. Methods. Between 2016 and 2021, 645 patients, 152 of whom were less than 1 month old, underwent ductus closure with the Piccolo device from five different centres in Turkey. The median age of the patients was 2.2 years, and the mean narrowest point of duct diameter was 1.8 mm. Sixty-two patients weighed ≤ 1.5 kg, 90 patients 1.5–3 kg, and the mean follow-up was 20.4 months. In 396, the duct was closed by the retrograde route. Ductal anatomy was Type A in 285, C in 72, E in 171, and F in 64 patients. Fluoroscopy duration was 6.2 min. The procedure success rate was 99.1%. Device embolisation occurred in 13 patients (2%), and 11 were retrieved with a snare. Cardiac perforation and death developed in one premature baby. The left pulmonary artery and the descending aorta stenosis were observed in 3 (0.4%) and in 5 patients (0.5%). Results. Piccolo device is safe and effective in closing ductus in all age groups. It has low profile for use in premature and newborn babies, a small embolisation risk, and a low residual shunt rate after closure. Conclusion. The Piccolo device can be considered as close an ideal occluder. The lower profile, smaller delivery catheter size, and symmetry of this device allow for a venous or arterial approach.

An aorto-ventricular tunnel is a rare congenital cardiac defect, where a channel connects the lumen of the ascending aorta to the left or right ventricle. Four patients presented with an aorto-left ventricular tunnel over two decades at a median age of 8 months (range 0.1–10 months). Two patients (50%) had associated cardiac anomalies including hypoplastic left heart syndrome and left ventricular noncompaction/hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with aortic/pulmonary valve dysplasia in one patient each. Although traditionally surgical treatment has addressed this problem, management has evolved to transcatheter closure with excellent outcomes in appropriately selected patients at our national centre.

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation is a rare disease leading to cyanosis, where there is a direct relation between the pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein without a capillary structure. Arteriovenous fistulae may be single or multiple. Clinical signs emerge depending on the size of the fistulae and amount of shunt. Due to the advancements in transcatheter devices and increased experience render enable the fistula embolisation procedure as an alternative to surgical treatment. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is used to support the patient haemodynamically and respirationally in cases of treatment-resistant, severe and revocable cardiac or pulmonary sufficiency. This paper presents an infant patient with pulmonary arteriovenous malformation, who had haemodynamic instability due to severe hypoxia and received successful transcatheter fistula embolisation via extracorporeal membrane oxygenation under emergency conditions.

We report a case of a 16-year-old boy with symptomatic recurrent atrial septal defect due to patch degradation of an autologous pericardial patch, done 10 years back. He successfully underwent transcatheter closure of the recurrent defect after meticulous assessment of patch rims for stability.

Ostium secundum atrial septal defects are mostly closed in the cardiac catheterisation laboratories using either Amplatzer® (Abbott Laboratories, IL) atrial septal occluder, Gore® Cardioform septal occluder and more recently using the recently approved (US FDA approval June 2019) Gore® Cardioform atrial septal defect occluder (W. L. Gore & Associates, AZ). Similar to any new device in the market, there is a learning curve to the deployment of this device. We therefore aim to report the key features about this new Gore Cardioform atrial septal defect occluder device with special emphasis on technical aspects that can be employed during transcatheter closure of challenging ostium secundum atrial septal defects using this device.

Acquired and congenital left ventricular to right atrial communication is rare, but nowadays, the frequency of the iatrogenic subgroup is increasing. Successful transcatheter closure of these defects with different devices has been reported. Herein, we presented successful closure of left ventricular to right atrial communication with Amplatzer Duct Occluder 2 after attempting to close with a failed Amplatzer Vascular Plug II device in a 7-year-old girl. This report supports that transcatheter closure of iatrogenic Gerbode defect with Amplatzer Duct Occluder 2 device is safe and effective.

In older adults with patent ductus arteriosus, CT is widely used for duct visualisation because angiography images can be inadequate for evaluation. We report the case of a 73-year-old woman with a highly calcified patent ductus arteriosus whose CT images were insufficient for accurate measurement. Intravascular ultrasonography is useful for sizing of and guiding device closure of the duct.

The Lifetech Multifunctional occluder is a versatile device with an improved delivery and flexibility that reduces the risk of atrioventricular block. This is a retrospective, descriptive, pilot study done in 25 patients who underwent transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defect using Lifetech Multifunctional occluder from February 2017 to January 2018.

The average age was 9.32 ± 7.20 years, with a range from 1 to 32 years. Procedural success was 100% with no case needing a change of device size. Closure rate on follow up was at 42% (10/24), 52% (12/23), and 81% (17/21) at 1 day, 1 month, and 6 months, respectively. At 6-month follow up, pre-procedure tricuspid regurgitation disappeared by 38%. However, the incidence of new onset tricuspid regurgitation to trace was 16% (2) and mild 8% (1). Pre-procedure mild aortic regurgitation remained the same status throughout the 6-month follow up. Closure of the defect did not improve or worsen the aortic regurgitation. Post-transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defect with mild infundibular hypertrophy, the 1-year-old patient had resolution of the infundibular hypertrophy after 6 months but our 9-year-old patient had persistence of the mild infundibular hypertrophy even after 6 months. One patient (4%) developed transient widened QRS complexes post-transcatheter closure that resolved after 1 month. In total, 92% of the patients had no periprocedural complications. While one patient each had an inadvertent urinary bladder puncture and device embolisation.

Our retrospective review of the procedural and short-term outcomes of transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defect sizes 2–10 mm, using the Lifetech Multifunctional occluder, appears to be safe and effective. However, long-term follow up is warranted.

Isolated systemic arterial supply to a normal lung, a type of bronchopulmonary vascular malformation, is a rare cause of extracardiac left-to-right shunt. We describe such a case that was successfully managed by transcatheter closure of the anomalous arterial supply to otherwise normal lung.

Left ventricular pseudoaneurysm is very rare in children. Although surgery is conventional treatment, recently, percutaneous closure of pseudoaneurysms has been described. Here, we present the first case where a patient developed left ventricular pseudoaneurysm after percutaneous ventricular septal defect device closure and was treated by a second percutaneous method.

Ventricular septal defect is the most common type of CHD, and transcatheter ventricular septal defect closure has been shown to be an alternative to surgical closure with acceptable mortality and morbidity as well as encouraging results. Short-term and mid-term follow-ups have indicated the safety and efficacy of transcatheter closure, but long-term follow-up results were rare. In this report, we first found that aortic regurgitation occurred in patients 9–12 years following transcatheter closure and regurgitation were gradually increased. The findings indicate that the long-term outcome of transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defect may not be as satisfied as expected.

Aortopulmonary window is a rare cardiac defect, and early management with surgery or transcatheter closure is lifesaving. Here, a 9-month-old patient, who underwent a successful device closure with additional size-Amplatzer duct occlude, is presented to make emphasis that it may be considered as the device of choice for defects in close proximity to aortic valve and/or coronary ostium.

Atrial dysrhythmia is an important cause of mortality and morbidity in patients with atrial septal defect. Increased P wave duration can predict the risk of atrial dysrhythmia. The aim of this study is to evaluate the risk of atrial dysrhythmia by measuring P wave dispersion, and to observe the effect of surgical and transcatheter closure. Sixty-one patients and 30 controls were investigated. In patient group, before and after closure and in control group at the time of presentation, 12-lead electrocardiography records were evaluated. P wave duration and amplitude, P wave axis, PR interval, P wave dispersion, QRS axis, corrected QT interval, and QT dispersion were calculated. The measurements in patient and control groups, measurements before and after closure, and measurements of surgical and transcatheter group were compared. There were 27 patients in surgical group and 34 patients in transcatheter group. In patient group, signs of right heart volume overload were apparent but there was no significant difference in terms of P wave dispersion between two groups. We compared patient group in itself and found that while the use of medication, cardiothoracic index, ratio of right ventricular dilation, and paradoxical movement in interventricular septum were increased, mean age of closure was younger in surgical group. While P wave dispersion decreased in transcatheter group after closure, it increased in surgical group (p = 0.021). In conclusion, atrial septal defects may cause atrial repolarisation abnormalities and this effect persists even after surgical closure. Transcatheter closure in childhood may decrease dysrhythmia risk in long-term follow-up.

A child undergoing routine transcatheter patent arterial duct closure developed severe transient ischemic changes in the electrocardiogram (Pardee waves) while the aortic retention skirt of the Amplatzer™ Duct Occluder was pulled against the duct orifice. The occluder was then released, and the delivery system was pulled back to inferior caval vein which led to electrocardiogram normalisation. Aortic root angiography showed a single coronary artery originating from the right sinus of Valsalva with the left coronary stem wedged behind the posterior aspect of the right ventricular outflow tract. We believe that the left coronary artery was compressed while applying tension on the occluder delivery system.