Recent advances in transcatheter treatment of congenital heart disease

Over the last several decades there has been a remarkable change in the therapeutic strategy of congenital heart disease. Development of new tools and devices, accumulations of experience, technical refinement have positively affected the outcome of interventional treatment. Many procedures including atrial septostomy, balloon valvuloplasty, balloon dilation of stenotic vessel with or without stent implantation, transcatheter occlusion of abnormal vascular structure, transcatheter closure of patent arterial duct and atrial septal defect, are now performed as routine interventional procedures in many institutes. In diverse conditions, transcatheter techniques also provide complementary and additive role in combination with surgery. Intraoperative stent implantation on stenotic vessels, perventricular device insertion, and hybrid stage 1 palliative procedure for hypoplastic left heart syndrome have been employed in high risk patients for cardiac surgery with encouraging results. Transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defect has been performed safely showing comparable result with surgery. Investigational procedures such as percutaneous valve insertion and valve repair are expected to replace the role of surgery in certain group of patients in the near future. Continuous evolvement in this field will contribute to reduce the risk and suffering from congenital heart disease, while surgery will be still remained as a gold standard for significant portion of congenital heart disease.