Delivery systems for transcatheter therapies of congenital heart disease.

Introduction: Delivery systems are crucially important for the implantation of medical devices in patients with congenital heart disease. However, very little data is available comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the various delivery systems.

Areas covered: This article describes the delivery systems and methods used for delivery of atrial septal occluder devices, ventricular septal occluder devices, devices to occlude patent arterial ducts, and transcatheter pulmonary valves. Delivery systems are compared relating to prepping and loading, positioning of the delivery sheath/catheter, deployment, ability to recapture and reposition, as well as device release.

Expert opinion: For most ASD/VSD/PDA occluder devices, the basic delivery mechanism has changed very little over the preceding 20 years. Future modifications may focus on meaningful modifications to the cable systems that reduce stiffness and improve angulation at the connection to the device. Over the next 5-10 years, it is expected to see significant changes to delivery systems used for transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation, that result in improvements in the ability to recapture and reposition self-expandable transcatheter valves during the deployment process, combined with kink resistant sheaths that facilitate easy tracking across often complex right ventricular outflow tracts.