Early and mid‐term results with the growth stent—A possible concept for transcatheter treatment of aortic coarctation from infancy to adulthood by stent implantation?

Aims : Evaluation of the Growth Stent—a stent consisting of two stent halves connected by reabsorbable sutures—for the treatment of aortic coarctation in infants. Methods and Results : Surveillance study of 13 Growth Stents implanted in 12 patients aged 1–15 months (median 5 months). Body weight ranged from 3.4–12.8 kg (median 5.4 kg). Eight patients suffered from aortic (re‐)coarctation, four of them from stenosis of the aortic anastomosis after a Norwood I procedure. The follow‐up period was 24 months (11–51 months). Pressure gradients immediately after stent implantation decreased from 30 mm Hg (range 20–50 mm Hg) to 8 mm Hg (range 0–15 mm Hg). Five patients had one (3 pts) or two (2 pts) balloon dilations 3–28 months (median 12 months) after Growth Stent implantation. The median pressure gradient decreased from 25 mm Hg (range 15–30 mm Hg) to 15 mm Hg (range 5–25 mm Hg). Six patients received a large stent after 19–34 months. Median body weight was 11.8 kg (9.4–15 kg). Conclusions : The Growth Stent is suitable for the acute treatment of aortic coarctation in infants and can be overstented later on—if necessary—with a larger stent without causing restriction. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.