Percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty in mitral stenosis

Percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty(PBV) was successfully performed in 8 mitral stenosis patients for recent 3 months. Five patients have aortic insufficiencies also and two patients have mitral regurgitations below grade II/IV. All patients showed sinus rhythm on EKG, and had no mitral valvular calcification on echocardiography and fluoroscopy. PBV resulted in an increase in mitral valve area from 1.22±0.22 to 2.57±0.86 cm2, a decrease in mean left atrial pressure from 23.4±9.6 to 7.5±3.4 mmHg and a decrease in mean mitral pressure gradient from 21.3±9.4 to 6.8±3.1 mmHg. There were no significant complications except 2 cases of newly appeared and mildly aggravated mitral regurgitation. We believe that PBV will become a treatment modality of choice replacing surgical commissurotomy or valve replacement in a group of mitral stenosis patients, because of its effectiveness and safety