If too much blood flows to the lungs, it can damage the blood vessels in the lungs. This can occur with large or multiple ventricular septal defects.
It may not be possible to repair the defects if there are many defects or if the child is not healthy enough. In this case, pulmonary artery banding may be done to prevent too much blood from flowing to the lungs.
Pulmonary artery banding may also be used in children who have a single ventricle with too much blood flow to the lungs. This can protect the lung vessels until the child is old enough for a cavopulmonary anastomosis.
This minimally invasive surgery is done through a small incision on the child’s side, putting a small band around the pulmonary artery and tightening it like a drawstring. The main risk involved is not tightening the band enough or tightening the band too much so that not enough blood flows to the lungs.
This procedure is followed later by a repair of the defects or a cavopulmonary anastomosis.