Intracardiac Echocardiography Guidance for Percutaneous Transcatheter Closure of Atrial Septal Defects-Nationwide Registry Data Analysis

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has been used for percutaneous atrial septal defect (ASD) closure, with intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) guidance recently being introduced.Methods and Results: The Japanese Structural Heart Disease Registry was established by the Japanese Association of Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics. This study analyzed data from the Registry for 2,859 consecutive cases undergoing percutaneous ASD closure between January 2015 and December 2020. ASD closure was performed under ICE guidance (n=519; 18.2%), TEE guidance (n=1,428; 49.9%), or TEE plus ICE guidance (Both; n=900 cases; 31.5%). The success rates were similar in the TEE, ICE, and both groups (99.0%, 99.2%, vs. 98.0%, respectively; P=0.054), as were complication rates (1.2%, 0.5%, vs. 2.1%, respectively; P=0.24). In the TEE and Both groups, 92.4% and 79.6% of patients required general anesthesia, compared with only 2.9% of patients in the ICE group (P<0.001). Fluoroscopic time was longer in the ICE and Both groups than in the TEE group (median [interquartile range] 19 [14-28] and 21 [13-30] vs. 12 [8-19] min, respectively; P<0.001). Rim deficiency and larger defect diameter were inversely related, whereas hospital volume was positively related to ICE guidance.Conclusions: Percutaneous transcatheter ASD closure was as feasible under ICE as under TEE guidance. ICE guidance is used for less challenging cases in high-volume centers in Japan.

Automated summary

This study analyzed data from 2,859 consecutive cases undergoing percutaneous ASD closure between January 2015 and December 2020. The success rates and complication rates were similar in the TEE, ICE, and both groups. However, a higher proportion of patients in the TEE and both groups required general anesthesia. The use of ICE was associated with larger defect diameter and higher hospital volume.