Metallic stents in interventional paediatric cardiology

Summary

In the last 8 years, stents have been used with increasing frequency in congenital heart disease. They have been used in branch pulmonary artery stenosis, whether naturally occurring or post-surgical, native coarctation and aortic recoarctation after previous surgery and systemic venous stenoses, which usually occur after surgery. In all these indications, stents produce a more predictable dilation, preventing vessel recoil. However, longer follow-up studies are required to determine if they are likely to cause future problems of management, such as development of stenosis within the stent due to intimal proliferation.

Key Words:

• stent implantation
• pulmonary artery stenosis
• aortic coarctation