Balloon angioplasty of native coarctation and comparison of patients younger and older than 3 months.

BACKGROUND: There is a high incidence of restenosis and aneurysm formation after balloon angioplasty for discrete native coarctation in neonates and young infants, and so the techniques remains controversial in this group of patients because its clinical validity, particularly in comparison with surgery, has not been well established. METHODS AND
RESULTS: From January 1999 to October 2005, group A (17 patients [8 males, 9 females] <3 months old ranging from 0.2 to 2.9 months, with a body weight of 2.5-5.5 kg) and group B (11 patients [5 males, 6 females] >3 months old ranging from 5.5 months to 6.4 years, with a body weight of 7.8-21 kg) with discrete native coarctation who underwent balloon angioplasty and were included in this study. There were 13 (76%) successes in group A, and 10 (90%) successes in group B for the initial balloon angioplasty. There was no significant difference in success rate between groups A and B (p>0.05). There were 9 (69%) cases of restenosis patients in group A, and 2 (20%) in group B, a significant difference between the 2 groups (p<0.05). In group A, 1 patient showed aneurysm formation after angioplasty, 1 (5.8%) showed femoral artery obstruction and 2 (11%) showed reduced pulses.
CONCLUSIONS: Balloon angioplasty of discrete native coarctation is effective in patients both younger and older than 3 months. However, thea rates of restenosis, aneurysm formation, and approach artery injury are higher in patients younger than 3 months old when compared with patients aged over 3 months. These complications should be considered when performing balloon angioplasty in patients less than 3 months of age.