Immediate and Short-term Follow-Up of Aortic Coarctation Balloon Angioplasty and Stenting

BackgroundAortic Coarcatation (CoA) is one of the congenital heart diseases with the rate of 5-8% of Coronary heart diseases(CHDs). Balloon angioplasty is now one of the effective way of treatment for CoA, native or Re-coarctation (Re-CoA). We aimed to assess the immediate, and short term response to angioplasty and stenting, and also complications.
Materials and MethodsBalloon angioplasty with our without stenting was performed for 53 patients with native or Re-coarcatation angioplasty (39 balloon angioplasty alone, and 14 balloon and stenting). Pressure gradient across the CoA segment was measured initially by Echo and pre, and Post procedure. Echocardiography was also used for follow up assessment during 24 hours, one and 6 months afterward.
ResultsAmong 53 patients, 52.8% were male. There were 98.2% native and 3.8% Re-CoA. The mean age of patients was 8.65 ± 8.37 years, and the mean weight was 25.82±20.73 kg. The mean pressure gradient acrossthe CoA site before angioplasty was 24.88±12.32, and post procedure gradient was 4.77±6.42 (pConclusionOn the basis of these data balloon angioplasty is safe, and effective in the treatment of native or Re-CoA. These results suggest that CoA angioplasty could be an effective alternative to a surgical approach, and gives good immediate results, although follow up studies are necessary to evaluate complications, and the long term effect on blood pressure in comparison to surgical approach.