OBJECTIVE
To review 12 years of experience of balloon aortic valvoplasty in childhood.
DESIGN
Early and mid-term clinical and instrumental evaluation of 104 consecutive balloon aortic valvoplasties performed from 1986 to 1998.
SETTING
A tertiary referral centre for congenital heart disease.
PATIENTS
90 patients with congenital aortic stenosis: 20 neonates (group 1), 16 infants (group 2), and 54 children (group 3).
INTERVENTIONS
Balloon aortic valvotomy.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Doppler and peak to peak aortic gradient before and after valvoplasty, degree of aortic regurgitation before and after valvoplasty, early and late mortality, need for repeat intervention or surgery.
RESULTS
Balloon aortic valvoplasty produced a gradient reduction of > 50% in 59 patients, 12 having a residual peak to peak gradient of > 50 mm Hg. Early mortality included three procedure related and six procedure unrelated deaths. There were no intraprocedural deaths. Grade III aortic regurgitation occurred in 20 patients. Five non-lethal complications occurred. At a mean follow up of 5.1 (group 1), 5.7 (group 2), and 7.6 years (group 3), survival was 75%, 88%, and 96%, respectively. Redilatation was performed in three patients in group 1, one in group 2, and 10 in group 3. Surgery was necessary for six in group 1, one in group 2, and eight in group 3. Freedom from events at last follow up was 50%, 75%, and 64%, respectively. There was a residual maximum Doppler gradient of < 30 mm Hg in 22 patients and > 60 mm Hg in 23; 50 patients have mild to moderate aortic regurgitation.
CONCLUSIONS
Balloon aortic valvoplasty is effective and repeatable and offers good palliation for congenital aortic stenosis in childhood.
Recent evidence has suggested that persistence of the left superior caval vein is associated with a high incidence of obstructive lesions of the left heart. To shed more light on this issue 1085 patients with congenital heart disease were studied retrospectively, with the aim of estimating the prevalence of a persistent left superior caval vein and its associated anomalies, focusing attention on obstructive lesions in the left and right ventricles. Patients with isomerism of the atrial appendages, or hypoplastic left heart syndrome, were excluded. A persisting left superior caval vein was present in 57 patients (5.2%). The overall incidence of obstructive lesions of the left heart was higher in patients with than in those without a persistent left superior caval vein (31.6 versus 7.8%,p < 0.001). Relative hypoplasia of the left ventricle was also higher in patients with persistent left superior caval vein (14 versus 0.8%, p < 0.001). The obstructive lesions found in the left heart, compared with the number in those without a left caval vein, were: mitral stenosis, 5.2 versus 0.7%; subaortic stenosis, 5.3 versus 0.9%; aortic coarctation, 17.5 versus 5.8% (p < 0.01); all of these in association, 3.5 versus 0.4%. In contrast, the incidence of obstructive lesions of the right heart was similar in the two groups of patients. It is concluded that persistence of the left superior caval vein can perturb the normal development of the left ventricle, being strongly associated with obstructions to left ventricular inflow and outflow.
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