We read with interest the study of outcomes after balloon aortic valvuloplasty recently published by Brown et al. (1), and the accompanying editorial by Rome (2). The authors have valuably demonstrated the outcome of patients who have had balloon aortic valvuloplasty and shown that sudden death in this young patient population is rare. Their paper and Dr. Rome’s editorial also remind readers th...

With increasing life expectancies, the burden of aortic valve disease continues to be a major contributor to morbidity and mortality, affecting millions of elderly people [1,2]. Aortic stenosis (AS) begins with a long asymptomatic period [3]. Once symptomatic, survival becomes poor unless the outflow obstruction is relieved [4-6]. Retrospective studies have shown that if the patient experiences...

Hybrid surgery is becoming more popular in the treatment of children with congenital heart disease, particularly small infants and neonates. We report a case of a patient with aortic stenosis (AS) and coarctation of the aorta (CoA). CASE a 1-month-old baby presented with severe AS and CoA. The decision was made to perform a hybrid surgical procedure. The patient underwent a lateral thoracotom...

RATIONALE Percutaneous aortic valve procedures are a major breakthrough in the management of patients with aortic stenosis. Residual gradient and residual aortic regurgitation are major predictors of midterm and long-term outcome after percutaneous aortic valve procedures. We hypothesized that (1) induction/recovery of high molecular weight (HMW) multimers of von Willebrand factor defect could ...

308 As technology advances resulted in more effective percutaneous approaches to the treatment of valvular stenosis, the terminology used to describe these procedures evolved as well. The term “commissurotomy” originated from the surgical procedure developed for commissural mitral valve stenosis (see chapter 34), and some thought valvuloplasty should be reserved for surgical procedures that mor...