A lot of NS children have had open heart surgery for pulmonary stenosis. Will future developments in technique mean a less invasive treatment?
Less invasive techniques were available for more straightforward cases to open up a pulmonary valve but this “balloon” procedure didn’t work as well when the valve was very thick or abnormally formed. In these cases, surgeons often choose to go for open heart surgery as the result is likely to be better first-time round. But in many individual cases of children with NS it was possible to do the less invasive balloon dilation technique and hopefully that these techniques will improve in the future.
