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J Am Coll Cardiol, 2007; 49:2215-2221, doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2006.11.053
(Published online 8 May 2007). © 2007 by the American College of Cardiology Foundation |
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,a
,a
* Childrens Heart Center, Childrens Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle, Washington
Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio
The Congenital Heart Institute, Miami Childrens Hospital, Miami, Florida
The Congenital Heart Institute, Arnold Palmer Childrens Hospital, Orlando, Florida
¶ Gore Medical Products, W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., Flagstaff, Arizona
|| Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
# The Multicenter Pivotal Study of the Helex Septal Occluder Investigators are listed in the .
Manuscript received May 2, 2006; revised manuscript received November 13, 2006, accepted November 16, 2006.
* Reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Thomas K. Jones, Childrens Heart Center, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, Washington 98015. (Email: thomas.jones{at}seattlechildrens.org).
| Abstract |
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Background: The HSO is a low-profile, double-disk occluder device for percutaneous closure of secundum ASD.
Methods: Patients were enrolled (HSO arm prospectively, surgery arm prospectively/retrospectively) from 14 U.S. sites and followed up for 12 months postprocedure. Investigator-reported outcomes were evaluated, including closure success (no or clinically insignificant residual shunt) and the incidence of adverse events. The first 3 HSO patients at each site were considered training cases and were excluded from analysis.
Results: Between March 2001 and April 2003, 119 nontraining cases received an HSO and 128 had surgical repair. The groups were similar with statistical but clinically unimportant differences in median age, weight, and preprocedural echocardiographic defect size. Anesthesia time and hospital stay were significantly shorter in the HSO group. Closure success, defined as complete closure or a clinically insignificant residual shunt, was similar in both groups. Major and minor adverse events rates were not statistically different. The most common major adverse events for the HSO group was device embolization requiring catheter retreival (1.7%), and in the surgery group was postpericardiotomy syndrome (6.3%), including one death because of tamponade. The primary end point, clinical success, a composite of closure success and no major adverse events at 12 months, satisfied the noninferiority hypothesis comparing device closure with surgery.
Conclusions: Closure of ASD with the HELEX septal occluder is safe and effective when compared with surgical repair, with reduced anesthesia time and hospital stay. (U.S. Multicenter Pivotal Study of the HELEX Septal Occluder for Percutaneous Closure of Secundum Atrial Septal Defects; this study was approved by the Food and Drug Administration before the National Institutes of Health website was active, so there is not a URL or registration number.)
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The HELEX septal occluder (HSO) (W. L. Gore & Associates, Flagstaff, Arizona) is a low-profile, double-disk occluder device designed to close secundum ASDs. The device is composed of an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene membrane bonded to a single nitinol wire frame and can be delivered though a 9-F femoral venous sheath. The device is packaged with its integral delivery system (Fig. 1). Because it is a compliant, nonself-centering device, it is capable of conforming well to the curvilinear surfaces of the atrial septum. The delivery system allows for repositioning or retrieval of the device after deployment. A safety cord attached to the device provides an additional level of patient safety by allowing for removal of the occluder even after device release. Previous reports have shown the apparent safety of this device in initial clinical evaluations with high levels of clinical success (1115).
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| Methods |
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Inclusion criteria for enrollment included the presence of an ostium secundum ASD and evidence of right heart volume overload. Additional criteria for the device arm patients was a balloon occlusion defect diameter
22 mm and the presence of adequate septal rims to secure the device as judged by the individual investigator at the time of implantation. In the surgical arm, patients could be enrolled retrospectively within 12 months of institutional review board approval.
Exclusion criteria for the study included the presence of concurrent cardiac defects requiring surgical repair or significant comorbidities including a history of stroke, pulmonary hypertension, pregnancy, or the presence of multiple ASDs requiring the use of more than one device (device arm only).
Surgical repair of the ASD was carried out using accepted standard surgical techniques and individual surgical center protocols. For patients enrolled in the device arm, details of the atrial septal anatomy were evaluated by either transesophageal or intracardiac echocardiography at the time of the cardiac catheterization procedure. At that time a final determination was made by the individual investigator regarding the patients suitability for device implantation based on the inclusion criteria stated above.
Patients in each group were evaluated at 24 h, 4 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after treatment. Follow-up visits included a history and physical examination, electrocardiogram, and transthoracic echocardiogram. Additionally, for patients enrolled in the device arm, fluoroscopy of the device was performed at the 6- and 12-month follow-up visit.
Outcome measures.
The primary end point of the HELEX Pivotal Study was clinical success, a composite of safety and efficacy evaluated at 12 months postprocedure. The criteria for clinical success were: 1) no major device or procedure adverse event through the 12-month follow-up; 2) no repeat procedure to the target ASD; and 3) clinical defect closure (complete occlusion or clinically insignificant leak) at the 12-month follow-up. Secondary end points evaluated included the individual outcomes of safety and efficacy. Safety outcomes for the study included assessment of device-related and procedure-related adverse events through the 12-month follow-up. Efficacy outcomes included assessment of defect closure at each of the follow-up visits. Residual defect status was classified as: 1) complete occlusion; 2) clinically insignificant leak with a small residual shunt defined as a residual defect
3 mm and never >6 mm accompanied by resolution of right ventricular enlargement and normalization of interventricular septal motion; or 3) clinically significant leak.
Statistical analysis. The first 3 patients undergoing an attempt at device placement at each site were considered training cases and were excluded from the primary analyses comparing outcomes with surgical controls. Subsequent analysis of the training cases identified no statistically significant differences compared with nontraining cases in patient characteristics or outcomes.
Baseline patient characteristics were compared between device nontraining and surgical control patients. Continuous measures were compared using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. Categorical measures were compared by Fisher exact test or chi-square test. The proportions of patients experiencing one or more adverse events overall, and by subgroups of interest, were compared using the Fisher exact test. The proportions of patients achieving the primary end point, clinical success, were compared using a binomial proportions test with a noninferiority margin of 10%. A value of p < 0.05 was considered evidence of noninferiority. A propensity scores analysis was used to account for baseline differences in patient populations. The SAS software (version 8, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina) was used to perform all analyses.
| Results |
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Patient demographics are compared in Table 1, and medical histories and current medications are compared in Table 2. On average, device patients were older with comparatively smaller defects than surgical controls. These statistical differences served as the basis for the propensity scores analysis.
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Procedural details of the 2 study groups are presented in Table 3. In the device group, the median balloon size of the defect was 14 mm, compared with a resting median diameter of 10 mm. The ratio of the balloon stretch to resting diameter of 140% is consistent with previously published reports and suggests that the investigators took care to avoid overstretching the defect by observing the minimal balloon diameter at which shunting ceased, referred to as the "stop-flow" diameter (16). The median fluoroscopic time of 22 min in the device group is typical for routine diagnostic catheterizations performed in patients with congenital heart disease and similar to the reported time for the only other approved atrial septal occluder device available in the U.S. (10). The duration of anesthesia time and of hospital stay was also significantly less in the device group compared with the surgical control group.
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The residual defect status was determined on the 12-month echocardiogram by an independent echocardiography core laboratory. Successful defect closure by either method was defined by the study protocol as complete closure or the presence of a clinically insignificant residual defect. A clinically insignificant residual defect was further defined as associated with normalization of right ventricular volume and interventricular septal motion by transthoracic echocardiography, and typically <3 mm and absolutely <6 mm diameter as determined by color Doppler flow image. Of the 82 patients evaluated in the surgical control arm by the core laboratory, 100% were determined to have successful defect closure at 12 months postprocedure (Table 5). Of the 105 patients evaluated in the device arm, 98.1% were determined to have successful defect closure on final evaluation. Significant residual defects were identified in 1.9% (2 of 105) of device patients on final evaluation. Both of these patients had multifenestrated defects that the investigator believed would be incorporated into the closure during the healing response over the first year. Neither of these patients was noted to have wire frame fractures or any other device-related adverse events.
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| Discussion |
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For the protocol-specified analysis, clinical success rates in eligible patients were compared between nontraining device and surgical control patients. Clinical success was determined in 109 of the 117 eligible device patients and in 86 of the 124 eligible surgical control patients (Table 6). Of the 46 patients not evaluated, 20 discontinued study follow-up without a major adverse event and before final defect evaluation (2 device patients, 18 surgical control patients), and 26 missed final core laboratory evaluation of residual defect status (6 device patients, 20 surgical control patients). Clinical success was achieved in 91.7% (100 of 109) of device patients and in 83.7% (72 of 86) of surgical control patients. Based on these data, the null hypothesis of HSO inferiority was rejected in favor of the noninferiority alternative hypothesis with p < 0.001.
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| Conclusions |
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The choice of the most appropriate method for closure of clinically important ASD includes a number of issues that relate to the compatibility of the device with specific patient anatomy. The compliant nature of the HELEX occluder and its nonself-centering construction are favorable design features for certain anatomical forms of ASD. For larger defects >18 mm to 20 mm, alternative transcatheter devices or surgical repair will still be required. However, greater freedom of choice by the congenital interventional cardiologists and their patients in the selection of devices for ASD closure is now available.
| Appendix |
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| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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a Additionally, Drs. Jones, Latson, and Zahn are consultants to W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., the manufacturer of the Helex Occluder and the sponsor of this study. ![]()
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