Original paper
Percutaneous dilatation of aortic coarctation with balloon angioplasty and/or stent implantation – own experience

Background: Results of percutaneous dilatation of native aorta coarctations (CoA) and recoarctations after previous surgical procedures (ReCoA) are not frequently published.
Aim: To assess results of balloon angioplasty (BAP) and/or stent implantation (SI) in the treatment of patients (pts) with aortic coarctation and recoarctation. Material and methods: BAP and/or SI were performed in 203 pts: 110 with native CoA and 93 with ReCoA, aged 0.3-57 (median 15) years. In cases of discrete native CoA BAP was performed with usually low pressure balloons whereas in ReCoA high pressure balloons were used. Depending on the availability the following stents were applied – Palmaz, Cheatham Platinum (CP), covered CP and nitinol self-expandable.
Results: BAP was performed during 184 procedures and SI was done in 64 pts. In native aorta coarctation BAP was successful in 82.9% of pts and in all 45 pts with SI (despite 4 stent migrations) a good result was obtained. In ReCoA BAP was effectively performed in 79.2% of pts, whereas SI – in 72.2% (13/18) pts (stiff postsurgical lesions). After BAP/SI aortic aneurysm/dissection occurred in 1 patient with native CoA and in 3 pts with ReCoA – 3 of them were treated with covered stent and one was treated surgically. In a 53 years old woman with native CoA and an aortic aneurysm a mild stroke occurred during an implantation of a covered stent. One 6.5 years old girl suffered from femoral thrombosis after SI and required surgical treatment.
Conclusions: In the majority of patients with aortic coarctation BAP or SI are the effective methods of treatment. The treatment strategy should be however always selected individually.