Comparison of Balloon Dilatation and Surgical Valvuloplasty in Non-critical Congenital Aortic Valvular Stenosis at Long-Term Follow-Up.

The two main modalities used for congenital aortic valvular stenosis (AVS) treatment are balloon aortic valve dilatation (BAD) and surgical aortic valvuloplasty (SAV). This study evaluates residual and recurrent stenosis, aortic regurgitation (AR) development/progression, reintervention rates, and the risk factors associated with this end point in patients with non-critical congenital AVS who underwent BAD or SAV after up to 18 years of follow-up. From 1990 to 2017, 70 consecutive interventions were performed in patients with AVS, and 61 were included in this study (33 BADs and 28 SAVs). There were no significant differences in age, sex distribution, PSIG, and AR frequency between the BAD and SAV groups. Bicuspid valve morphology was more common in the BAD group than the SAV group. There was no statistically significant difference between PSIGs and AR development or progression after intervention at the immediate postoperative echocardiography of patients who underwent BAD or SAV (p = 0.82 vs. p = 0.29). Patients were followed 6.9 ± 5.1 years after intervention. The follow-up period in the SAV group was longer than that of the BAD group (9.5 ± 5.4 vs. 5.5 ± 4.4 years, p = 0.003). There was no statistically significant difference in the last echocardiographic PSIG between patients who underwent SAV or BAD (51.1 ± 33.5 vs. 57.3 ± 35.1, p = 0.659). Freedom from reintervention was 81.3% at 5 years and 57.5% at 10 years in the BAD group and 95.5% at 5 years and 81.8% at 10 years in the SAV group, respectively (p = 0.044). There was no difference in postprocedural immediate PSIG and last PSIG at follow-up and the development/progression of AR between patients who were treated with BAD versus SAV. However, long-term results of SAV were superior to those of BAD, with a somewhat prolonged reintervention interval.