Results of operation for aortic valve stenosis in infants, children, and adolescents

Surgical procedures for aortic valve stenosis may be considered either corrective or palliative. During a 22-year period from 1962 to 1984, 120 patients required operation for aortic valve stenosis. The operations done included 117 valvotomies and three initial valve replacements. Six patients, five infants and a 7-year-old girl, died at operation. The remaining 114 patients were followed up for 1 to 23 years (mean 8.7 years). Twenty-six patients (23%) required a second operation 1 to 15 years (mean 6.8 years) after initial valvotomy. Six patients (5%) required a third operation 3 months to 8 years (mean 4.4 years) after the second operation. Eighteen of the 26 patients (69%) having second operations required valve replacement. All third operations were valve replacements. No perioperative deaths occurred at the second and third operations. There were four sudden late deaths (3.5%). Eighty-four of the 114 patients (74%) followed up for 1 to 23 years (mean 7.7 years) have had a satisfactory result from initial valvotomy, being free of symptoms and major events (stroke, endocarditis, sudden death), and have not required reoperation. Fifty-nine percent of a subgroup of 22 patients followed up for a mean of 17.7 years have had a satisfactory result from initial valvotomy.