Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2014
Transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement with the Melody® valve is an accepted alternative to surgical replacement of the pulmonary valve for some patients and therefore a complementary strategy in the long-term management of several groups of patients with congenital heart disease. It allows at least extending the time between sternotomies and possibly improving late outcomes. With a combined surgical and percutaneous approach, late morbidity for some of these patients will likely be diminished. This manuscript will review the current expanded applications for this technology, demonstrate several examples of its use and discuss future directions for this evolving equipment.
Presented at “The Birth of Heart Surgery: Lessons Learned from Tetralogy – Past, Present and Future” Dinner Symposium Sponsored by Johns Hopkins Medicine and All Children's Hospital, Thursday, February 21, 2013, at The Sixth World Congress of Paediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town, South Africa, February 17–22, 2013. A video of this presentation can be viewed at the following hyperlink: [http://www.allkids.org/wcpccs].