INTRODUCTION Balloon valvuloplasty (BVP) is one of the primary therapies for congenital aortic stenosis in children and adolescents. The aim of this interventional procedure is to gain time before possible surgical therapy (aortic valve replacement) until adulthood. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy, safety and mid-term results oftranscatheter BVP in children and ad...

A growing list of transcatheter interventions is now available for treating patients with congenital and acquired heart disease. Among these procedures are creation of interatrial defects by balloon and blade septostomy , , balloon dilation of stenotic vessels and valves, and closure of unwanted intracardiac and extracardiac defects and vessels. This chapter focuses on several interventions: ba...

Background: The two most common causes of aortic stenosis are primary “degenerative” calcification of tricuspid aortic valves and secondary calcification of congenital bicuspid valves. T lymphocyte infiltration occurs in stenotic tricuspid aortic valves, indicating an inflammatory component, but it has not been shown whether it also occurs in stenotic bicuspid valves. Objective: To compare non-...

We present the case of a 54-year-old woman in which a diffuse congenital supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS) was associated with a severe aortic valve incompetence and heavy calcification of the aortic annulus. Repair consisted in resection of the ascending aorta, patch augmentation of the hypoplastic aortic root and annulus, placement of a 20 mm Dacron tubular graft (Vascutek, Renfrewshire, U...

Background. Discrete fixed subvalvular aortic stenosis can occur as an isolated abnormality or in association with other cardiac anomalies, especially ventricular septa] defect, persistent patent ductus arteriosus or coarctation of the aorta (1-4) . It most often presents as a crescent-shaped ridge of fibroelastic tissue protruding from the left septal surface into the subaortic region or as a ...

Bicuspid aortic valve disease is the most common congenital cardiac anomaly. The prevalence in the general population is between 0.46% and 1.37%. There is significantly high cardiac morbidity associated with bicuspid aortic valve disease, predominantly due to progressive valve dysfunction (stenosis or regurgitation) that requires surgical intervention for symptom relief or prevention of left ve...