Outcome of Balloon Valvuloplasty in Children with Pulmonary Valve Stenosis – Multi-Center Experience

Abstract

Background: Pulmonary valve stenosis (PS) is a prevalent congenital heart disorder in children, and symptoms include chest distress, dyspnea, cyanosis, and heart failure in its severe criteria. Objective: To learn more about the short-term results of balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty in children who had severe pulmonary stenosis. Patients and methods: Between January 2015 and December 2018, a 4-year cross-sectional study was conducted in various centers across Egypt, with funding from the "Dar Al Orman charity". We included 146 Children varied from 5 months to 17 years of either sex diagnosed as severe pulmonary stenosis' case with doming valve with mean value of peak pressure gradient across the pulmonary valve of 74 mmHg on echocardiography. Patients were intervened with balloon-valvuloplasty. Results: There were 74 (50.7%) men and 72 (49.3%) women among the 146 patients. The average age was 5.34 (SD 0.5) years. On echocardiography, the mean pre-cath gradient via the pulmonary valve was 74.44 (SD 9.5) mmHg. The mean pressure gradient across PV was 19.54 (SD 1.9) mmHg after the intervention, (Pvalue 0.001). Before intervention, the pulmonary valve annulus on echocardiography varied from 8.5 to 20 mm, with a mean of 13.44 (SD 3.2) mm. Most patients (89%) had no complications. Only 2 (1.4%) patients had severe pulmonary valve regurgitation, and 1 (0.7%) patient had right ventricular outflow tract perforation (0.7%). Conclusion: Balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty is the preferred treatment for stenosis of the pulmonary valve in people of all ages, and it has few side effects.