The pediatric specialists at Norton Children’s Heart Institute, affiliated with the UofL School of Medicine, will choose an endovascular stent to treat certain cases where a blood vessel is too narrow. One example of this is coarctation of the aorta. In this heart defect, a part of the aorta is narrower than it should be.

One way to fix this is for a heart surgeon to perform surgery. As an alternative, if your child is an appropriate candidate, an interventional cardiologist can implant an endovascular stent by cardiac catheterization in order to widen the coarctation of the aorta. The stent is a small tube that is released in the narrowed vessel and expands, widening the vessel. Unfortunately, the stent won’t grow with the child’s body, therefore, stents are typically used in older children rather than babies.

The board-certified and fellowship-trained specialists at Norton Children’s Heart Institute have the experience and training to know whether this less-invasive procedure is right for your child.

Recovery from endovascular stent placement is dependent on where the stent was placed, what type of defect the stent addressed, and the child’s underlying condition. Your child will need long-term care by a pediatric cardiologist to monitor the stent and your child’s heart condition. If your child has a recurrence of the narrowing in the blood vessel, they may need another stent placed in the future.