Cardiac septal defects: Treatment via the Amplatzer® family of devices

The majority of patients with congenital heart disease present with defects resulting from vascular narrowing or absence (such as interruption or coarctation of the aorta or pulmonary arteries) or failure of structures to fuse or separate during development (total anomalous pulmonary venous connection, septal defects, fusion of valve cusps). Corrections of these defects initially began with open-heart surgery but now many of these repairs can be performed through catheter-delivered closure devices (e.g., Amplatzer closure devices). This chapter will present a brief history of defect repairs and provide information on the designs, developments, and preclinical animal testing of such systems.