Mitral replacement may grow with infant

Dr. Emani also advised limiting intraoperative dilation to no more than 1 mm greater than the measured annulus. "Try not to overdilate at implantation to avoid heart block, LVOTO, and coronary compression. The nice thing is you don’t have to decide then and there what size you want. You can go back to the cath lab and, under direct visualization with the coronary view, you can dilate it under more controlled circumstances.

"The hope is that we will be able to dilate these valves as the patients grow into adolescence. If we can dilate them up to 22 mm, hopefully we will decrease the number of repeat replacements, delay the time to reoperation, and perhaps modify our thresholds for tolerating significant disease after unsuccessful repairs."

Dr. Emani reported no disclosures.