SUDANESE JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRICS AND CHILD HEALTH Vol 10: 2010 Original Article Interventional Catheterization for Congenital Heart Disease: Experience at the

Interventional catheterization for congenital heart disease is a rapidly evolving speciality which had been introduced in Sudan recently. This retrospective review aims at presenting the experience from Sudan. Patients and Methods: All patients who underwent interventional catheterization jor congenital heart disease at the Sudan Heart Center in the period from July 2004 to July 2009 that were done by the author were included in this retrospective review. Results: In the study period 347 patients underwent cardiac catheterization. Of these 281 (81%) were diagnostic and 66 (19%) were interventional. For interventional procedures the age ranged from 12 hours to 43 years with a mean of 10 years. Procedures included balloon dilatation of the pulmonary valve (20),patent ductus arteriosus device closure (36), Atrial septal defect device closure (3) and balloon atrial septostomy (6) and balloon dilatation of the aortic valve (1). All patients with patent ductus arteriosus and ASD had successful device closure. Of those who had pulmonary valve dilatation 15 had severe stenosis that was successfully dilated and in 5 patients dilatation was not possible: two infants had critical stenosis and 3 were Noonan's syndrome. Six patients underwent balloon septostomy (12 hours- 3 months old) : all of them had acceptable size atrial septal defect. Major obstacles included late referral, the lack of regular supply of catheters and occluders and the deficiency of pre and post catheterization intensive care setup. Conclusion: This initial report shows that results of interventional catheterization for CHD in Sudan are encouraging. Early referrals, improving intensi ve care setup and continuous supply of catheters at affordable cost are needed to consolidate this program