Percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty for congenital critical pulmonary stenosis in neonates.

BACKGROUND. Percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty (PBVP) was performed on 6 neonates with severe pulmonary stenosis to evaluate its efficacy. METHODS. The 6 studied neonates were aged from 1 to 30 days and weighed 2.5 to 3.3 kg. Follow-up period ranged 6-21 months with a mean of 11.5 +/- 6.3 months. RESULTS. Dramatic improvement after PBVP was obtained not only on the clinical manifestations but also on the hemodynamic data. After percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty, the aortic O2 saturation increased significantly from 71.3 +/- 14.8% to 83.2 +/- 9.3% (p = 0.001) in 5 neonates who had cyanosis before PBVP. The right to left ventricular peak systolic pressure ratio decreased significantly from 1.65 +/- 0.41 to 0.77 +/- 0.27 (p < 0.001). The peak systolic right ventricular pressure dropped significantly from 104.0 +/- 18.8 to 48.8 +/- 13.6 mmHg (p < 0.001). The peak systolic gradient between right ventricle and main pulmonary artery dropped significantly from 83.2 +/- 16.2 to 24.3 +/- 16.3 mmHg (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS. The percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty is safe and effective in treating the neonates with congenital critical pulmonary stenosis.