having open heart surgery. The device is placed through a small incision in the groin. The Amplatzer septal occluder was shown to have full closure of the ventricular defect within the 24 hours of placement. It has a low risk of embolism after implantation. Some tricuspid valve regurgitation was shown after the procedure that could possibly be due from the right ventricular disc. There have been some reports that the Amplatzer septal occluder may cause life-threatening erosion of the tissue inside the heart. This occurs in one percent of people implanted with the device and requires immediate open-heart surgery. This erosion occurs due to improper sizing of the device resulting with it being too large for the defect, causing rubbing of the septal tissue and erosion. Surgery Surgical closure of a Perimembranous VSD is performed on cardiopulmonary bypass with ischemic arrest. Patients are usually cooled to 28 degrees. Percutaneous Device closure of these defects is rarely performed in the United States because of the reported incidence of both early and late onset complete heart block after device closure, presumably secondary to device trauma to the AV node. Surgical exposure is achieved through the right atrium. The tricuspid valve septal leaflet is retracted or incised to expose the defect margins. Several patch materials are available, including native pericardium, bovine pericardium, PTFE (Gore-Tex or Impra), or Dacron. Suture techniques include horizontal pledgeted mattress sutures, and running polypropylene suture. Critical attention is necessary to avoid injury to the conduction system located on the left ventricular side of the interventricular septum near the papillary muscle of the conus. Care is taken to avoid injury to the aortic valve with sutures. Once the repair is complete, the heart is extensively deaired by venting blood through the aortic cardioplegia site, and by infusing Carbon Dioxide into the operative field to displace air. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography is used to confirm secure closure of the VSD, normal function of the aortic and tricuspid valves, good ventricular function, and the elimination of all air from the left side of the heart. The sternum, fascia and skin are closed, with potential placement of a local anesthetic infusion catheter under the fascia, to enhance postoperative pain control. Multiple muscular VSDs are a challenge to close, achieving a complete closure can be aided by the use of fluorescein dye. Epidemiology VSDs are the most common congenital cardiac abnormalities. They are found in