Short- and long-term outcomes of balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty in children ≤24 months with critical and haemodynamically significant pulmonary valve stenosis: a 20-year single-centre experience in Medellín, Colombia.

Authors

Andrea Davila-Ruales, Sergio Gonzalez-Butron, Eliana Cañas, Guillermo Aristizabal-Villa, Rafael Lince-Varela

Published in

Cardiology in the young. Pages 1-12. Oct 15, 2026. Epub Oct 15, 2026.

Abstract

Balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty is the treatment of choice for critical and haemodynamically significant pulmonary stenosis, but long-term outcome data in infants, particularly in Latin America, remain limited. We evaluated long-term outcomes and factors associated with adverse outcomes in children ≤24 months.
We retrospectively included consecutive patients ≤24 months who underwent balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty for critical or haemodynamically significant pulmonary stenosis between January 2004 and July 2024. Outcomes included significant restenosis, moderate-or-greater pulmonary regurgitation, pulmonary valve reintervention, and surgical reintervention. Time-to-event outcomes and predictors were assessed using Kaplan-Meier estimates and Cox regression.
A total of 129 patients were included (median age 1.5 months; 37.2% with critical pulmonary stenosis). Procedural success was 94.5%. The median right ventricular-to-pulmonary artery gradient decreased from 44 to 7 mmHg (p < 0.001). During a median 7 years follow-up (interquartile range 3-10), significant restenosis occurred in 25.6%, moderate-or-greater pulmonary regurgitation in 19.4%, and 17.8% underwent pulmonary valve reintervention. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated sustained freedom from adverse outcomes throughout follow-up. Univariable Cox regression identified predilation and a higher balloon-to-annulus ratio as factors associated with an increased hazard of significant restenosis and moderate-or-greater pulmonary regurgitation, whereas a larger pulmonary annulus Z-score was associated with a lower hazard of restenosis.
Ballon pulmonary valvuloplasty is a safe and effective first-line therapy in children ≤24 months, providing sustained haemodynamic improvement and durable long-term outcomes. Patients requiring predilation, larger balloon-to-annulus ratios, or having smaller pulmonary annulus Z-scores may benefit from closer long-term echocardiographic surveillance.

PMID:
42878212
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 16 Oct 2026.

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