Atrial and ventricular shunt closure.

Since the initial description of an atrial septal defect closure device in the mid-1970s by King and Mills, transcatheter closure of atrial septal defects using various devices has now become an established practice in many centers. These techniques have proven to be safe, cost-effective and favorably compared with surgical closure. Closure of ventricular septal defects is regarded as more complex. This article reviews several studies and includes our single-center data on 875 atrial septal defect and ventricular septal defect patients.