Baby's heart valve replaced

"Quite a few children with congenital heart problems require valve replacement," said Dr. Dan Bernstein, co-director of the Children's Heart Center at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital and chief of pediatric cardiology. "But those valves develop leakage over time and children end up having multiple surgeries to replace them. This procedure will reduce the number of re-operations they need.''

During the procedure the pig's valve is threaded on a balloon through a catheter and then along a wire down a large vein in the patient's neck. When the valve reaches the entrance to the pulmonary artery the balloon is inflated, pushing the valve into place.

The procedure was developed two years ago by a British doctor and has never before been performed on a child under the age of 7. The only other time it was performed in the United States was on an adult. Bernstein believes it could become standard practice at Stanford.

"I could see doing this procedure on a dozen to two dozen kids each year, just at this center,'' Bernstein said.

However, it will likely be some time before the procedure becomes commonplace, according to Dr. Jeffrey Feinstein, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Stanford and one of the cardiologists who performed the procedure.

"We make it look easy, but physicians aren't going to go out and do this right away. We're a long way from this being standard procedure,'' Feinstein said.

The infant girl is showing marked improvement since the surgery and breathing, eating and sleeping better, Bernstein said.