Balloon valvotomy for severe aortic stenosis in an infant.

Severe valvular aortic stenosis (AS) is one of the congenital heart diseases that may require intervention during infancy(l). Surgical valvotomy (performed under cardiopulmonary bypass) has, until recently, been the only method by which the aortic valve gradients could be reduced. Balloon aortic valvotomy (BAV) has now emerged as an attractive alternative(2,3). Despite the availability of the balloon valvotomy technology in our country, experience with balloon aortic valvotomy has been limited to older children with valvular AS(4). We report the successful application of BAV in an infant (age 4 months) with severe valvular AS.