Authors

• Matea Dumančić — Klinički bolnički centar Zagreb, Zagreb, Hrvatska — ORCID: 0000-0003-2052-8307

Keywords

congenital heart diseases, pulmonary Melody valve

DOI

Full Text

Numerous patients with congenital heart diseases have a dysfunctional pulmonary valve and require cardiac surgery at an early age. Until the last decade, the replacement of a dysfunctional pulmonary valve or conduit could only be performed by open heart surgery. The introduction of percutaneous Melody pulmonary valve ( 1 ) implantation into our therapeutic protocol today, offers an attractive alternative to the surgical procedure of pulmonary valve replacement in carefully selected patients. The nursing staff who cares 24 hours for these patients, plays the key role in the preoperative patient preparation and in the post-procedural course and education. The main advantage of this procedure is the avoidance of open heart surgery in patients who already had several previous surgeries and may need future ones. The findings of many studies are encouraging and most patients with corrected tetralogy of Fallot and related anomalies will require multiple lifelong interventions, and it is impossible to predict what technology and alternatives will be available in the future. Ultimately, appropriate sequencing of surgical replacement and percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation will depend on individual patients’ needs. Despite this, PPVI (Percutaneous Pulmonary Valve Implantation) is now recognized as an important part of therapy to prolong the lifespan of an existing bioprosthetic valve.