Causes of recoarctation after balloon angioplasty of unoperated aortic coarctation

During the 35 month period ending December 1987, 30 children, aged 14 days to 13 years, underwent balloon angioplasty of unoperated aortic coarctation with resultant reduction in coarctation gradient from 43.6 ± 20.4 to 9.5 ± 7.6 mm Hg (p < 0.001). None of the patients required immediate surgical intervention. On the basis of results of 6 to 30 month follow-up catheterization data in 20 children, the patients were classified as follows: Group A, 13 patients with good results (gradient ≤20 mm Hg and no recoarctation on angiograms) and Group B, 7 patients with fair or poor results (gradient >21 mm Hg with or without recoarctation on angiography). No patient developed aortic aneurysm at the site of angioplasty. Thirty variables were examined by multivariate logistic regression analysis and four factors were identified as risk factors for development of recoarctation: 1) age