What is pulmonary stenosis?
The pulmonary valve controls blood flow from the right ventricle to the lungs. When it is narrowed — stenosed — the heart has to work harder to push blood through it. It ranges from mild, causing no symptoms and needing only monitoring, to severe, which can affect a newborn's ability to get enough oxygen.
Signs that may point to it
How it is diagnosed and treated
An echocardiogram measures the degree of narrowing and the pressure the right ventricle is working against, which decides whether and when treatment is needed.
Balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty — widening the valve with a balloon carried in on a catheter — is the treatment of choice at almost every age, from newborns to teenagers, and avoids surgery in the great majority of cases. Mild narrowing is simply watched with periodic echocardiograms.