The purpose of the present study was to assess the usefulness of balloon expandable Palmaz intravascular stents in the transcatheter treatment of children and young adults with native and recurrent coarctation of the aorta, and to develop an improved intravascular stent and balloon delivery catheter specifically developed for vascular obstructions associated with congenital heart disease, including coarctation of the aorta. Twenty-one patients, 8 native and 13 recurrent coarctations, were successfully treated with the Palmaz stent. However, limitations and disadvantages in stent design and the single balloon delivery system were uncovered. Therefore, the NuMED CP stent and BIB delivery catheter were developed and used to treat 25 patients with native (17) and recurrent (8) coarctation successfully. Improvements in stent design and long-term follow-up using three-dimensional spiral CT scan will be helpful in determining the role of transcatheter stent therapy for native and recurrent coarctation of the aorta. Cathet Cardiovasc Intervent 2001;54:112-125.
Copyright 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.