Interventional procedures

Abstract

Interventional cardiology was developed more in the past 2-3 decades, especially with new treatment options for congenital heart disease such as atrial septal defect, patent ductus arteriosus, ventricular septal defect and pulmonary valve stenosis. These techniques avoid open-heart surgery. Good long-term results allow treated children to have a normal life. Recent advances in interventional cardiology were due to the discovery of new techniques, some of them are revolutionary techniques, and also due to the technical improvement of materials used for procedures: new types of balloons, guidewires, devices to oclude intracardiac communications, which assured optimal results after the procedure. In recent decades, with all medical advances, congenital heart diseases are also common in adults because some diseases in this category are well tolerated until adulthood and due to a specific pathology in patients who had undergone cardiac surgery in childhood (lung failure, residual shunts, or valve stenosis).