Pulmonary valve balloon valvuloplasty compared across three age groups of children

The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics and outcomes of treating pulmonary stenosis with percutaneous valvuloplasty, and to compare them among three childhood age groups. All children under 15 years of age who had undergone pulmonary valve balloon valvuloplasty in Madani Heart Center from 2005–2009 were enrolled in this study. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS software (SPSS, Inc, Chicago, IL). Mean (± standard deviation) age of patients was 55.5 ± 47.4 months. Two-thirds of the subjects had moderate pulmonary valve stenosis. Balloon valvuloplasty failed in nearly one-fifth of the treated patients. There were 17 failures and two cases of mortality, descriptively less frequent among children >5 years; however, the observed difference was not statistically significant. Mild pulmonary valve insufficiency was a common finding.