Congenital aortic stenosis occurs either at valvular,
subvalvular or supravalvular level. Sometimes
subvalvular stenosis may be associated to valvular
aortic stenosis seen in childhood. Temporary relief
may be achieved by balloon valvotomy and/or open
aortic commissurotomy in these children during the
newborn period. However, majority of these cases
need an open intervention to the aorta due to the
development of restenosis. Furthermore, a prosthetic
aortic valve with an appropriate diameter may not
be inserted by conventional aortic valve replacement
techniques at these ages, thus an aortic root
enlargement procedure is often required. Aortoventriculoplasty operations performed on the basis
of enlarging both valvular and subvalvular area
together enables the surgeon to enlarge the aortic
annulus 1.5 to 2 times and play an important role in
the treatment of these cases.
Mid to long term follow-up results of 5 patients who
had undergone aortoventriculoplasty operation at 8
to 16 years of age in our clinic revealed that ali
patients are in NYHA Class I functional capacity and
the preoperative left ventricle-aorta gradient
decreased from 119.8 mmHg to 20.8 mmHg while
the aortic annulus diameter increased from 13.4 mm
to 22.4 mm.
Based on the mid-to-tong follow-up results and on
the aortic annulus enlargement together with the
permanent decrease in the left ventricle to aorta
gradient, we believe that aortoventriculoplasty
operation should be taken into consideration in patients with combined stenosis of valvular and
subvalvular aortic area.