Transcatheter closure of a ventricular septal defect resulting from knife stabbing using the Amplatzer muscular VSD occluder.

We report for the first time the transcatheter closure of a traumatic ventricular septal defect (VSD) with the Amplatzer muscular VSD occluder in a 34-year-old man who had been stabbed through the heart. After his initial life-saving surgery to relieve tamponade, control bleeding, and repair the lacerated right ventricle, the risks and difficulties of subsequent open heart surgery were felt to favor transcatheter closure. We review other reports of transcatheter closure of traumatic VSD. Copyright 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.