Stenting in paediatric and adult congenital heart diseases: A French multicentre study in the current era

Summary Background Many stents are used “off-label” during the management of congenital heart diseases (CHD). Aims To describe indications for, results of, and adverse events associated with stenting in CHD in current practice. Methods Participation in this study was proposed to all catheterization laboratories that specialize in CHD in France (M3C network). All paediatric and adult CHD cases with stent implantation in 2013 were included retrospectively. Results Overall, 207 stents were implanted in 151 patients across 11 centres. Median age was 13.7 years (range, 5 days to 70.1 years). Main procedure indications were branch pulmonary artery angioplasty ( n = 46, 29.1%), aortic (re)coarctation stenting ( n = 43, 27.2%), percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation ( n = 32, 20.2%) and ductus arteriosus stenting ( n = 14, 8.9%). The main stents implanted were the CP Stent™ ( n = 61, 29.5%), the Max™ LD stent ( n = 43, 20.8%), the Valeo® stent ( n = 28, 13.5%) and valved stents ( n = 30, 14.5%). Procedures were considered successful in 96.8% of cases (95% confidence interval [CI] 92.8–99.0%). Adverse events were observed in 23 procedures (14.7%, 95% CI 9.5–21.0%). Ductus arteriosus stenting (odds ratio 12.4, 95% CI 2.0–77.5; P < 0.01) and pulmonary revalvulation (odds ratio 5.9, 95% CI 1.1–32.3; P = 0.04) were risk markers for stent-related adverse events. Conclusions Stents are used in various CHD catheterization procedures, from infancy to adult age. The adverse events rate is significant and is related to the type of procedure.