Ductal Stenting to Improve Pulmonary Blood Flow in Pulmonary Atresia with Intact Ventricular Septum and Critical Pulmonary Stenosis after Balloon Valvuloplasty

Objective: To assess the feasibility, safety, and efficiency of ductal stenting in pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum or critical pulmonary stenosis after balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty. Background: Ductal stenting in pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum is a re-emerging and promising technique. There is little data available on its outcomes after establishing prograde pulmonary blood flow. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all neonates with pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum or critical pulmonary stenosis who underwent ductal stenting after balloon valvuloplasty. Ductal stenting was performed either in the same setting (group A) or a few days later after balloon valvuloplasty (group B). We compared the two groups. Results: Eighteen coronary stents were transvenously delivered and successfully deployed in 18 newborns. There was no procedure-related mortality. The median hospital stay post-intervention was 6 days with a mean discharge oxygen saturation of 94%. Group A had a shorter overall hospital stay with a shorter overall time of irradiation but with a longer overall procedural time. On a follow-up of 18 months, no re-intervention for stent failure or overflow was undertaken. The median stent patency based on echocardiography was 12 months. Conclusion: Stenting the arterial duct in pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum or critical pulmonary stenosis is a feasible, safe, and efficient technique. It avoids surgery or long hospital stay with prostaglandin infusion. The minimal 6 months stent longevity provides a period of time long enough to decide whether the right ventricular diastolic function is normalised or Glenn surgery is still needed.