Coronary ostial patch angioplasty in children.

Patch angioplasty for coronary artery ostial stenosis was first reported in adults in 1952 and only sparsely used until 1983 when Hitchcock reviewed the technique in adults. We present two cases that highlight our use of this technique in inflammatory diseases of the aorta in children. Patch angioplasty restores physiologic perfusion of the coronary artery tree, preserves conduit material for further procedures later in life, and allows subsequent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty of stenosis. For these reasons we believe that patch angioplasty holds undoubted advantage over the available alternatives.