ABSTRACT
Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), already widely used in stenosis of peripheral, renal or coronary arteries, has now been extended to congenital heart diseases. Thus, in pulmonary or aortic orificial stenosis this simple and fairly safe method has proved to be a suitable alternative to surgery. In other cases it may be used for tiding the patient over a critical period pending surgery. Finally, PTA may be performed as a palliative treatment of lesions that are too complex for surgery or carry an excessively high operative risk. This applies to the two cases reported here, where PTA enabled us to dilate: the ductus arteriosus in a patient with single ventricle--an application which, to our knowledge, has not yet been reported--and a strongly stenotic pulmonary orifice associated with a complex heart disease. In both cases PTA was successful both haemodynamically and angiographically and was followed by marked clinical improvement. The published cases of complex congenital heart diseases where PTA has been used are reviewed.