Cardiologists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have implanted roughly two dozen devices in children and adults since the closure device was approved by the FDA for use early in 2002. Instead of the previously necessary open-heart surgery, adults can now enter the catheterization laboratory and have the device implanted with a procedure lasting about 30-35 minutes. Only a local anesthetic is required, and the patient can be discharged the same day.

In the case of young children, such as a 6-year-old girl with a congenital atrial septal defect, the procedure was done under a general anesthetic but still required only about 60-90 minutes rather than the 3 hours of open heart surgery. L. Stephen Gordon, M.D., pediatric cardiologist, explained that he chose the appropriate size device only after angiography had visualized her heart and the closure device and he had measured the pressure and oxygen content in each chamber and measured the size of the defect itself.

The device itself is made of a nickel-and-titanium alloy. It was attached to a tiny cable that was threaded through the catheter to the site of the defect. At that point, he pushed the closure device out of the catheter and into the defect, positioning it centrally in the hole, so that the two disks of the closure device rested on each side of the hole. After confirming the positioning of the device, the cardiologist released it by unscrewing the cable that had been used to slide it through the catheter.