Pulmonary Artery Stenosis

Pulmonary Artery Stenosis

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

Treatment for pulmonary artery stenosis will vary depending on the severity of the condition and age of the patient.

Babies, children and young adults may be treated in our Pediatric Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory with a procedure called balloon angioplasty. This procedure involves a catheter — a thin, flexible, plastic tube — that is inserted into a small incision in the leg and then threaded through a blood vessel to the heart.

A balloon at the tip of the catheter is inserted into the narrow opening of the artery and inflated to stretch the artery. Occasionally, a metal tube, called a stent, is placed in the artery to keep it expanded. This procedure takes three to five hours, depending on the number of blocked arteries. Patients stay overnight in the hospital and usually go home the next day.

The possibility of a risk due to the procedure is very low. But if a complication does occur, it can be serious such as bleeding into the lung, which can be life threatening. In some cases, the pulmonary artery stenosis is unusually thick and angioplasty with stent repair is not effective. In that case, surgery may be required.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Children's Hospital.
Last updated May 8, 2007