The use of a stent to repair pulmonary artery stenosis in children and adults with congenital heart disease was successful in a majority of patients in a recent study.

Using data from the American College of Cardiology IMPACT Registry, researchers examined records from 1,183 patients treated at 59 U.S. hospitals between January 2011 and January 2014. The age of the population ranged from less than a year to older than 18, with the average age about 9 years old. Of that group, 262 patients had a single ventricle.

For patients with two ventricles, researchers developed two definitions to measure success, each with separate benchmarks. Both definitions looked at whether pressure in the right ventricle decreased and the diameter of the pulmonary artery increased following the procedure. The second definition included an additional measurement- whether the pressure across the obstructed vessel changed, and by how much.

Researchers found that when using the first definition, 76 percent of the procedures were considered successful, while 86 percent based on the second definition were deemed a success. The overall success rate was more than 75 percent.

For single ventricle patients, researchers used one definition to measure success: an increase in the diameter of the pulmonary artery after stenting. Among those procedures, 75 percent were considered successful. The complication rate for all patients in the study cohort was 14 percent, with 9 percent experiencing death or a major adverse event, often associated with bleeding.

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