“The Effect of Atrial Septal Defect Closure on Cardiac Volumetric Changes in Adults, Transcatheter Versus Surgical Closure, and the Outcome of Tricuspid Regurgitation, a Pilot Cmr Study”

BackgroundClosure of an atrial septal defect (ASD) reduces right heart volumes by eliminating shunting while improving left ventricle (LV) filling and function due to ventricular interdependence, thereby improving symptoms. Furthermore, studies on atrial volume changes following ASD closure are paucity. Functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is frequently seen in adult patients with ASD as a consequence of right ventricle (RV) dilatation. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is widely accepted as the gold standard method for measuring cardiac volume and mass.ObjectiveWe aimed at studying the cardiac volumetric changes preclosure and 6 months after transcatheter and surgical closure, as well as fate of TR, using CMR analysis. MethodsWe prospectively enrolled 30 adult patients with isolated secundum ASD who were referred for ASD closure. CMR evaluates the right and left atrial volumes, as well as the ventricular end diastolic and end systolic volume indexes (EDVI and ESVI), function, the mass index, and tricuspid regurgitant fraction.ResultsRV volumes decreased in both groups when compared to baseline (P value 0.001), with the device group experiencing more reduction in volumes and improvement in RV function after closure (P 0.001). In each group, the absolute value of RV mass decreased significantly from the baseline (P value (0.001)), but with no difference between groups (P value 0.31). Improvement in functional TR occurred in both groups. LVEDVI increased significantly in both groups (P values 0.001 and 0.005, respectively), with a significant improvement in the LV mass index (P value = 0.01) and a non-significant difference in LVESVI. Only device closure resulted in an improvement in LV function (63.53 ± 3.85 versus 67.13 ± 4.34, P value =0.01). There was a significant reduction in right atrial (RA) volume (P value = 0.5), with a trend to decrease in left atrial (LA) volume but it was insignificant, with no difference between groups.ConclusionOur findings revealed that both procedures resulted in normalization of ventricular volume and reduction of RA volumes, with only the device group showing improvement in ventricular function. Functional TR improved after closure with either a device or a surgical approach.