Aorto-left ventricular tunnel arising from the left coronary sinus of valsalva

Aortico-left ventricular tunnel is a rare congenital cardiac defect that bypasses the aortic valve via a para-valvular connection from the left ventricle to aorta. In most cases, the tunnel arises from the right aortic sinus. In this case report, we present a case of Aortico-left ventricular tunnel, in which the aortic orifice arose from the left aortic sinus, requiring special attention to avoid injuring the left coronary artery at the time of surgical repair.

Initial experience of atrial septal defect closure with occlutech figulla occluder device at queen alia heart institute

To evaluate the effectiveness of the Occlutech Figulla occluder device in the treatment of ostium secundum atrial septal defect. This is a retrospective review which was conducted between June 2008-June 2011 involving 54 cases with ostium secundum atrial septal defect who underwent transcatheter closure using the Occlutech Figulla device at Queen Alia Heart Institute. All procedures were performed under general anaesthesia with continuous Transesophageal Echocardiographic monitoring. Clinical and echocardiographic assessments were performed after 24 hours and then after one, three and six months respectively. The results are presented as means, standard deviations and percentages. From the 54 cases, 33 patients [61%] were females. Their mean age and weight were 16.47 +/- 11.8 year, 38.4 +/- 20.7kg respectively. The mean atrial septal defect diameter by Transesophageal Echocardiogram was 13.2 +/- 4.2mm, and the mean atrial septal defect size of the implanted device was 15.97 +/- 4.5mm, ranging from 10.5 to 27mm. Two cases were sent for surgery due to inadequate postero-inferior rim. The procedure success rate was 96.3%. In five cases [9.6%] there was trivial residual shunt after 24 hours of the procedure which had disappeared at follow-up. The Occlutech Figulla occluder device is a safe and effective for transcatheter closure of secundum atrial septal defect. Longer term follow-up studies to evaluate the safety of the device are needed