Results of balloon dilatation of stenotic homografts in pulmonary position in children and young adults.

Objectives: To evaluate the results of balloon dilatation of stenotic homografts in children, adolescents, and young adults and to identify factors that might influence or predict the effect of the dilatation.
Background: Homografts are widely used in congenital cardiac surgery; however, the longevity remains a problem mostly because of stenosis in the homograft. The effect of treatment by balloon dilatation is unclear.
Methods: In a retrospective study, the effect of balloon dilatation was determined by the percentage of reduction of the peak systolic pressure gradient over the homograft during catheterisation and the postponement of re-intervention or replacement of the homograft in months. Successful dilatations - defined in this study as a reduction of more than 33% and postponement of more than 18 months - were compared with unsuccessful dilatations in search of factors influencing or predicting the results.
Results: The mean reduction of the peak systolic pressure gradient was 30% in 40 procedures. Re-intervention or replacement of the homograft was postponed by a mean of 19 months. In all, 14 balloon dilatations (35%) were successful; the mean reduction was 49% and the mean postponement was 34 months. The time since homograft implantation, the presence of calcification, the homograft/balloon ratio, and the pressure applied during dilatation all tended to correlate with outcome, but were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Balloon dilatation is able to reduce the peak systolic pressure gradient over homografts in a subgroup of patients and can be of clinical significance to postpone re-intervention or pulmonary valve replacement.