Background. We performed a prospective, randomized trial comparing percutaneous balloon commissurotomy with surgical closed commissurotomy in 40 patients with severe rheumatic mitral stenosis. Methods and Results. Data were analyzed by investigators who were masked to treatment assignment or phase of study. Patients randomized to balloon (n=20) or surgical (n=20) commissurotomy had severe mitra...

BACKGROUND Although atrial fibrillation (AF), a common arrhythmia, frequently presents in patients with underlying valvular disease, its hemodynamic contributions are not fully understood. The present work aimed to computationally study how physical conditions imposed by pathologic valvular anatomy act on AF hemodynamics. METHODS We simulated AF with different severity grades of left-sided va...

AIMS Kinetics of recovery oxygen consumption after exercise plays an important role in determining exercise capacity. This study was performed to assess the kinetics of recovery oxygen consumption in mitral stenosis and evaluate the effects of percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty and exercise training on the kinetics. METHODS AND RESULTS Thirty patients with mitral stenosis (valve area <...

BACKGROUND Indications of percutaneous mitral commissurotomy (PMC) remain debated in calcific mitral stenosis. We analyzed long-term results of PMC for calcific mitral stenosis and the factors associated with late functional results. METHODS AND RESULTS We compared the characteristics and outcome of 314 patients undergoing PMC for calcific mitral stenosis with 710 patients with noncalcified v...

A 12-year-old child with no previous medical history was referred with a 4-day history of cough, shortness of breath, and peripheral blood eosinophilia. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a soft tissue infiltrating the left ventricular free wall, the lateral mitral annulus, and the mitral valve leaflets. A soft tissue strand connecting the lateral left atrial wall and mitral leaflets across ...