These were the tools that a team of doctors in Los Angeles used to open up a narrow aortic valve in the heart of a 25-week-old fetus still growing in its mom’s belly. The procedure is known as a ...

Interrupted aortic arch is caused by the defective development of the aorta during early fetal life, probably within the first 5-7 weeks. It accounts for less than 2% of congenital heart anomalies.

Patterns of blood flow in the normal fetus ... aortic blood is derived predominantly from the ductus arteriosus, with only a small contribution from the ascending aorta across the aortic arch.

Aortic valve stenosis ranges from mild to severe, known as critical aortic stenosis. Critical stenosis is rare but carries a high rate of postnatal morbidity and mortality. 2.2 Critical aortic ...