Ventricular Septal Defect Surgical Repair

Male Speaker: In the United Stated, a VSD can be closed by a catheter procedure? Can that done here too?

Male Speaker: There are a sporadic number of experimental trials being done with various devices that can be used to close Ventricular Septal Defects. These devices at this point are so considered experimental and are not applicable to the majority of patients that we see for VSD closures in this country at this point. The main reason for that being, the fact that we tend to operate nowadays on children when they are smaller and smaller and ventricular septal defects at stages before the heart has become enlarged and sustained any significant damage from the fact that there is a hole there and also the fact that the ventricular septal defects themselves are commonly very close to the heart valve structures and the devices can injure the heart valve structures by attaching to them.
Male Speaker: Obviously it does need surgery. What would be the ideal age to operate?
Male Speaker: The ideal age for closure of ventricular septal defect depends upon the clinical condition of the patient, but in most cases it occurs between the ages of 3 to 6 months, and from a surgical standpoint that's a very ideal age for handling that problem.


Transcription by: Scribe4you Transcription Services