Stroke is a potential major complication of aortic valve replacement (AVR), transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), and balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV). Although its occurrence is rare, stroke significantly affects survival and quality of life. Based on recent randomized data from the PARTNER (Placement of Aortic Transcatheter Valves) trial, TAVR has recently emerged as the preferred ...

Over the past decade, transcatheter interventions have become increasingly important in the treatment of patients with congenital heart lesions. These procedures may be broadly grouped as dilations (e.g., septostomy, valvuloplasty, angioplasty, and endovascular stenting) or as closures (e.g., vascular embolization and device closure of defects). Balloon valvuloplasty has become the treatment of...

T he introduction of balloon valvuloplasty for aortic stenosis first reported by Cribier and colleagues in 19861 was initially greeted with enthusiasm, especially by the interventional cardiologists who had in Samsonlike tradition2 crushed the pillars of atherosclerotic coronary arteries with balloon catheters and were now anxious to do the same to calcified aortic valve leaflets. The success o...

A 67-year-old man diagnosed with severe aortic stenosis was admitted to our institution with pulmonary edema. The patient had a history of severe pulmonary fibrosis (total lung capacity, 57% of predicted value; diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide, 33% of predicted value) and had undergone coronary bypass grafting and mitral valve replacement with a St Jude mechanical valve (St Jude Medical, ...

Balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) has been a highly successful therapy for children and young adults with aortic valve stenosis, resulting in both symptomatic improvement and durable increases in the aortic valve area. Despite enthusiasm for BAV in older adult patients with aortic valve stenosis in the mid-1980s, the therapy has had disappointing mediumand long-term outcomes. Survival of patie...

Acute heart failure in patients with severe aortic stenosis and left ventricular systolic dysfunction is well known for its dire prognosis and limited therapeutic options. The authors describe the case of a man admitted for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Diagnostic exams revealed severe aortic stenosis, with good left ventricular systolic function, and two-vessel coronary artery diseas...