Initial clinical experience with the GORE septal occluder for the treatment of atrial septal defects and patent foramen ovale.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the initial experience with the GORE® septal occluder (GSO), a new septal occluder for the treatment of atrial septal defects (ASD) and patent foramen ovale (PFO).


RESULTS
This was a prospective single-centre review of patients undergoing percutaneous closure for a PFO or ASD with the GSO. A clinical evaluation and follow-up echocardiography were performed at three months with transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in case of PFO and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in ASDs. Between July 2011 and February 2012, thirty-eight patients underwent PFO (n=29) or ASD (n=9) closure with the GSO using TEE (n=36, 94.7%) or intracardiac echocardiography (n=2, 5.3%) guidance. In PFOs, three-month TEE was available in 24 patients and showed no residual shunt in 18 (75%), bubble shunt in two (8.3%) and bubble shunt after Valsalva in four (16.7%). In ASDs, three-month TTE showed no shunt in eight patients (88.8%) and residual shunt in one patient (11.2%). There was no device embolisation, air embolism, procedure-related stroke or pericardial effusion. No neurological events occurred during the follow-up period.


CONCLUSIONS
This initial experience with the new GSO device has demonstrated acceptable safety with no procedural complications and acceptable efficacy with low rates of residual shunting at three-month follow-up.
Department of Cardiology, Montreal Heart Institute, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Xavier
X
Freixa
Réda
R
Ibrahim
Jason
J
Chan
Patrick
P
Garceau
Annie
A
Dore
Francois
F
Marcotte
Lise-Andree
LA
Mercier
Francois-Pierre
FP
Mongeon
Arsène
A
Basmadjian
Paul
P
Khairy
Anita W
AW
Asgar
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000379:methods; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D054092:Foramen Ovale, Patent / Q000628:therapy*; D006344:Heart Septal Defects, Atrial / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011474:Prosthesis Design; D055989:Septal Occluder Device; D016896:Treatment Outcome