Non-surgical mitral valvuloplasty for rheumatic mitral stenosis.

One hundred and twenty-six patients of rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS), aged 10-30 (mean 19.5 +/- 5.9) years underwent balloon mitral valvuloplasty (BMV). All valvuloplasties were done by the anterograde transvenous, transatrial route. The procedure was successful in 120 (95%) cases. Single balloon was used in 10 patients early in the series and double balloon was used in the other 110 patients. BMV resulted in a significant increase in the mitral valve area (MVA) from 0.96 +/- 0.35 to 2.3 +/- 0.8 cm2 (p less than 0.0001) and a significant fall in the transmitral pressure gradient (TMG) from 28.2 +/- 3.2 to 7.4 +/- 4.8 mmHg (p less than 0.001). The MVA achieved by BMV was found to have a significant positive correlation with the balloon diameter to body surface area ratio (BD/BSA) (r = 0.69, p less than 0.001). New mitral regurgitation (MR) developed in 15 patients--trivial in 11, 2+ in 2 and 3+ in 2. One patient required emergency mitral valve replacement. Procedure induced MR did not have a significant relation to the balloon size, degree of mitral sub-valvular pathology or the severity of mitral stenosis. Iatrogenic atrial septal defect was detected by oximetry in none, by angiography in one patient, and by Doppler color flow imaging in 5 patients. Cardiac tamponade was the most frequent serious complication, occurring in 6 patients, 4 of whom died following emergency surgery. Sixty-five patients have been followed up for at least 6 months (range 6-30, mean 16.3 +/- 6.3 months) following BMV.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)