Balloon dilation recanalization of completely occluded modified Blalock-Taussig shunt

Summary A two-month-old boy, with complex pulmonary atresia, became increasingly cyanosed 10 days after a modified 5 mm right Blalock-Taussig shunt. There was no shunt flow on auscultation or Doppler echocardiography. Despite anticoagulation with heparin, the shunt remained occluded. After demonstration of the occluded shunt at angiography, a guide wire was easily passed through the occlusion and into the pulmonary artery. Balloon dilation was then successfully accomplished with a 6 mm diameter angioplasty balloon resulting in a patent shunt. The shunt was still widely patent at cardiac catheterization six months later.