Abstract
Percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation was first successfully performed in 2000
by Philipp Bonhoeffer in Paris. Since then it has become an established valuable tool
in the treatment of conduit failure especially in adolescents and young adults with
complex congenital heart disease. About 4500 valves have been implanted by transcatheter
means worldwide so far. The procedure is complex with prestenting of the right ventricular
outflow tract and consideration of the topography of the coronary arteries, which
can be compressed if their course is in immediate vicinity to the pulmonic conduit.
With appropriate technique, however, it is an effective procedure to postpone repeated
surgery for failing conduits in this young patient group. Further developments aim
at the treatment of native outflow tracts by transcatheter pulmonary valves.