Silent cerebral emboli following percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect in pediatric patients: a diffusion-weighted MRI study

摘要: PURPOSEThe aim of this prospective study was to investigate the incidence of silent cerebrovascular embolic events associated with percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect (ASD) in pediatric patients.METHODSA total of 23 consecutive pediatric patients (mean age, 10.4±3.8 years; range, 4–17 years) admitted for transcatheter closure of ASD were recruited in the study. The patients were scanned with a 1.5 Tesla clinical scanner. Two cranial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations were acquired before the procedure and within 24 hours following the catheterization. MRI included turbo spin-echo fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequence and diffusion-weighted imaging technique with single-shot echo-planar spin-echo sequence. The transcatheter closure of ASD was performed by three expert interventional cardiologists. Amplatzer septal occluder device was implemented for the closure …