Midterm Results of Transaxillary Occluder Device Closure of Perimembranous Ventricular Septal Defect Guided Solely by Transesophageal Echocardiography

Perimembranous ventricular septal defect (pmVSD) is a common congenital heart disease. Transaxillary occluder device closure of the pmVSD has been proved effective and an alternative to surgical closure. The study aimed to evaluate the immediate operation outcomes and the early and midterm follow-up outcomes of transaxillary occluder device closure. From January 2014 to December 2017, we retrospectively analyzed the patients who underwent transaxillary device closure of the pmVSD. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), chest x-ray, and electrocardiogram (ECG) before and after the procedure (before discharging). Follow-up evaluation was completed at the time of 3, 6, 12 months and yearly thereafter in outpatient setting with TTE and ECG. A total of 428 patients (216 male, 212 female) underwent transaxillary occluder device closure of the pmVSD under the guidance of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). The mean age at the operation time was 2.2 ± 1.5 year (range 0.5-16.2 year). The mean weight was 8.5 ± 4.1 kg (range 6-61 kg). The mean size of the occluder implanted in the operation was 5.3 ± 1.4 (range 4-8 mm), matching the mean defect size of 4.2 ± 1.1 (range 3-6 mm). The device closure operation was successfully achieved in 422 pmVSD patients (98.6%), and 6 patients failed in occluding and were converted to open surgery because of a great residual shunt and obvious device-related aortic regurgitation . Immediate complete closure was detected by postoperative TEE in all, but 3 patients had trivial residual shunting. Total early adverse events emerged in 47 patients (11.1%). New mild tricuspid and aortic regurgitation occurred in 17 and 3 patients and disappeared in follow-up. Abnormal atrioventricular conduction events emerged in 23 patients, including left anterior block, complete right bundle branch block (CRBBB), incomplete right bundle branch block (IRBBB), administrated with close follow-up. Pericardial effusion occurred in 2 other patients, managed with puncture drainage. During a median follow-up period of 26.8 months (range 6-48 months), no serious adverse event and later-on complete atrioventricular block were encountered. In our experience, transaxillary device closure was performed via right infra-axillary mini-incision (invisible) guided by TEE, with low incidence of postoperative adverse events, confirming that transaxillary device closure of the pmVSD under the guidance of TEE is an effective alternative to surgical c