Pulmonary valve stenosis/valvectomy with transannular patch

[Lisa120572]

Hi,my son had open heart surgery @ 2 months old for a pulmonary valve stenosis and a VSD. He had a valvectomy and a transannular patch. He is now almost 7 years old and is presenting with significant backflow to the right ventricle due to having no pulmonary valve. His right ventricle has increased in size quit a bit and the doctors are considering doing surgery. I heard about a non -invasive procedure that you do with a stent placement for pulmonary valves. Is this true?

[Pam]

Hi Lisa,

So sorry that your son needs heart surgery.  It's awful enough for adults, but horrible when young children have to go through that.

I just saw your question and wanted you to know that MedHelp also has a Pediatric Heart Forum where cardiologists from the #1 Heart Center answer questions every day for free.  I hope you'll go over there and post your question for them.  They are amazing and they helped my sister, when my niece had heart problems.

Here is a link:
http://www.medhelp.org/forum_disclaimers/show/340

You'll have to agree to the disclaimer, etc. but it is well worth it!  If that link does not work, then just click on Forums at the top of this page;  look at the alphabetical listing under "Ask a Doctor" and click on PEDIATRIC HEART.  You should be able to get there.

Good luck to you and to your son.

Pam

[vedadhar]

It is true that there such are such surgeries available for stent placement for Heart valves.Most of these surgeries are done by an interventional radiologist(surgery done under frequent X-ray induction) or use of robotic technology, but they are very expensive.These are generally minimally invasive.Surgeons from Intermountain Medical Group,North Valley Pediatrics212 South 1100 East, American Fork, Utah(Salt Lake City-News) has submitted a research paper in replacement of prosthetic pulmonary valve through a minimally invasive surgical procedure.Although many surgeries have been performed on many children with such heart problems,Mitral valve and aortic valve surgical procedures are done frequently.

Try googling with a prompt for non invasive cardiac procedures for pulmonary valve leads you to some search pages which has illustrations and details about the available centers in US(if you are from US)presently specialized in doing such surgeries.Open almost every search prompt from first page.