Use of balloon angioplasty to treat peripheral pulmonary stenosis

Balloon angioplasty was attempted in 13 children with peripheral pulmonary arterial (PA) stenosis. In 5 patients, angioplasty was successful in relieving the peripheral PA stenosis as judged by an increase in PA size of more than 75% over the predilatation size and a more than 50% reduction in the distal PA to main PA peak systolic pressure gradient. Each child has been followed for 6 to 30 months. All remain well, without signs of subsequent deterioration, and follow-up angiograms in 2 patients (at 10 and 12 months) showed persistence of anatomic and hemodynamic improvement. In 8 patients, angioplasty was unsuccessful: In 4 patients, stenosis at the site of a previous systemic-to-PA shunt could not be dilated and in 4 patients, angioplasty could not be performed because of technical difficulties. Thus, we could not dilate the stenosis in more than 60% of the patients; we also had a significant complication with the angioplasty procedure (perforation of a distal branch of the right pulmonary artery). Thus, although balloon angioplasty was not effective in all patients, it did provide significant improvement in some patients in whom traditional operative management is usually unsuccessful.