How effective is the treatment of congenital heart disease without surgery?

  Cardiac interventional therapy is a method of treating heart disease through special devices such as catheters that enter the human heart and large blood vessels under the guidance of X-ray fluoroscopy or other imaging methods. Because it requires only local anesthesia, is easy to operate, does not require open-heart surgery, is less painful for patients, less risky, and has a quick recovery, its application is becoming more and more widespread, and its scope is gradually expanding to all fields of cardiology, and currently common heart diseases such as coronary heart disease and congenital heart disease can be cured by interventional treatment.  The congenital heart diseases that can be treated with interventional therapy include patent ductus arteriosus, atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, pulmonary artery stenosis, aortic stenosis, aortic constriction, coronary artery fistula, pulmonary artery branch stenosis, blockage of collateral vessels and anomalous channels.  The procedure of interventional treatment for patent ductus arteriosus is introduced with the example of patent ductus arteriosus.  Traditional surgical procedures require median or lateral chest opening, ventilator insertion during surgery, general anesthesia for patients, sometimes extracorporeal circulation (stopping the heart and using an extracorporeal circulation machine to temporarily replace the heart function), long incision (15-20 cm), trauma, long operation time (2-3 hours at the earliest), more severe postoperative pain, slow recovery, long hospitalization, obvious skin scars, and impact on Aesthetics.  In contrast, interventional treatment of unclosed arterial ducts requires only local anesthesia in older children or adults. In children who are too young to cooperate, intravenous induction of anesthesia is used, and the child does not need to be on a ventilator; only the child needs to remain asleep.  No skin incision is required, only two small holes for injection at the base of the thigh are required. A catheter is inserted from the femoral vein at the root of the thigh to the heart, through the right ventricle, the pulmonary artery to the arterial catheter, and then a flexible, front-end elbow guiding wire is introduced into the descending aorta, which is the main guiding support during the operation. Then, following the wire, an outer sheath is introduced up to the descending aorta, which serves as the delivery channel for the blocking device. The blocking device is fixed to the delivery rail, and after delivery to the descending aorta, the blocking device is released sequentially along the descending aorta-arterial duct-pulmonary artery sequence to block the arterial duct, thus blocking the abnormal blood flow through the area and providing a complete cure. After confirming complete occlusion, the blocker is released.