Hi,
I found this group while searching in the net about treatment options for ASD after my 8 year old daughter was diagnosed with ASD. Its greatly illuminating to hear from other parents and patients about their experience, and help me immensely to decide on our future course of action. I am currently living in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
My daughter didn’t have any symptoms. During a routine medical screening for sports the Doctor detected OSASD measuring 11 mm X 8 mm. He said there is a shunt and mild dilation of the heart and advised us to go for catheter based device closure.
I have been researching on the net, and I understand that the most popular devise is the Amplatzer device, which is a metal one. I have a concern about having a metal piece permanently placed in my daughters heart, which has to last for several decades. There are rare reports of device moving away from its position and incomplete endothelialisation, which is a risk. From the net I read that a fully bioresorbable device from CARAG Switzerland has been approved and granted CE certification. The website says that US trials are pending.
My request to the community is to share their experience , if any, with this device. As this was approved in 2017, I guess several patients from Europe could have opted for this ?
Good thought sandy. I am from India and i was also confused after many experienced cardiac surgeons suggested me to go for device closure ,while i never want to live with a metal piece in my heart.Later this forum helped me to go for the right choice and now after 6 months i am doing pushups and is happy with my life.For kids most of the doctors prefer to do device closure , bioresorbable device woud be a better option. I had a big ASD and was living with it for almost 34 years…So dont hurry , i hope in this forum itself somebody may be able to give you more info .
Thank you for your kind response. Technology is evolving and I am sure after 5 years, there would be much better options ahead. But we don’t want to wait that long, esp as her growth spurt would start and I don’t want that impacted due to the ASD. We are consulting another eminent cardiologist in India next month and hope he will suggest the best way forward.
Now i am in malaysia and will be here for another 3-4months.For GCC, there is a screening medical test and those people who have undergone cardiac surgery will be blacklisted permanently .May be in future if i have to change my joblocation to GCC,i will have to go through this.
The best thanks that you can give, Gaurav, is to come here from time to time and reach out to members who were in the state of panic that you were when you arrived. That’s what Ben’s Friends is all about: peers supporting each other through bad times, but also through good.
I am very glad to hear that you are working and well!