PERFORATION OF THE RIGHT AORTIC-VALVE CUSP - COMPLICATION OF VENTRICULAR SEPTAL-DEFECT CLOSURE WITH A MODIFIED RASHKIND UMBRELLA

An 18-month-old boy with a perimembranous ventricular septal defect (V SD) had undergone transcatheter closure of the defect with a modified 17 mm Rash-kind umbrella device at age 4 months (weight 3.5 kg). The c linical signs of a VSD persisted, and he developed aortic incompetence , first detected 5 months after the procedure, which progressed from m ild to moderate, A three-dimensional echocardiographic study demonstra ted that one of the four arms holding the umbrella was protruding into the aortic valve and had perforated the right aortic valve cusp, This diagnosis was confirmed at subsequent surgery, Surgical repair of the perforated right aortic valve leaflet was necessary, The umbrella was adherent to the tricuspid valve and could not be removed. Instead it was left in situ, but three of the stainless steel arms were cut off. When umbrella closure of a perimembranaus VSD is undertaken, the close proximity of part of the distal umbrella to the aortic valve can lead to aortic regurgitation.