The Nation - News from Dec. 7, 2001
Children born with a severe hole in the heart won a breakthrough treatment Thursday: the first patches that can seal those holes without open-heart surgery.
The CardioSeal and Amplatzer patches can be threaded into the heart through tiny incisions in the groin, a far easier therapy than the grueling surgery many toddlers and young children have faced until now.
“It’s pretty remarkable to see just how this works,” said Dr. Stuart Portnoy of the Food and Drug Administration, which approved the patches Thursday.
“This is a big deal,” agreed Dr. Dianne Atkins of the University of Iowa, who chairs the American Heart Assn.’s council on pediatric heart disease.
“These devices are going to be very helpful” in allowing some children to avoid open-heart surgery altogether, and to cut the number of operations needed by infants with complex heart defects, she said.
Up to 17,000 children are born in the United States each year with a septal defect, a hole between heart chambers.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
