Clinical changes following mitral valvotomy are sometimes difficult to evaluate. The need for an objective method in assessing the effectiveness of surgery is apparent, and the value of combined heart catheterization in appraising the hemodynamics of mitral stenosis has been reported (Goldberg et al., 1955, 1956). A total of 58 patients have been studied by this procedure, 16 of them after as w...

A case of cardiac tamponade secondary to a late, loculated pericardial effusion after open pulmonary valvotomy is described. Percutaneous drainage of the effusion was aided by the infusion of intrapericardial streptokinase.

A group of patients with severe mitral stenosis but with multiple features has been analysed separately. Inevitably the operative risk was greater and the prospects of obtaining a good result were poorer, but the majority maintained worth-while improvement for some years. A subgroup with considerable cardiac enlargement, congestive failure, and atrial fibrillation were thought to have important...

The most common congenital heart defect is the bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) occurring with fusion of one three-valve commissures. A rarer valvular phenomenon unicuspid (UAV) which has an estimated prevalence 0.02% in adult population. Two morphologic subtypes UAV exist: earlier presenting, acommissural and later appearing unicommissural. To better characterize manage patients UAVs, a systematic ...

OBJECTIVE To confirm the validity of the calculation in MVA applying the method of Doppler pressure half-time directly in left atrial (LA) and pulmonary capillary pressure curve. METHODS Thirty-five patients with mitral valve stenosis underwent percutaneous mitral valvotomy (PMV) using the Cribier method with MVA measurement made using the traditional methods (Gorlin and echo-Doppler) and thi...

MITRAL VALVOTOMY is now a standard procedure and in recent years many series of cases have been reported. The results of 121 cases from this hospital have been recorded (Pantridge et al., 1953). 454 patients with mitral stenosis, all of whom were assessed by one of us (J. F. P.), have now had mitral valvotomy. The results of the initial 400 operations have been subjected to critical analysis ar...

SUMMARY Forty-two patients with pure mitral stenosis underwent a prospective, longitudinal study with two or more cardiac catheterizations 1 to 10 years apart and without intervening surgical treatment. The majority of patients had not previously had mitral valve surgery; in 16, the period of observation followed valvotomy. Twenty-seven patients showed evidence of progressive obstruction of the...

The numerous reports appearing in current British, American and French journals testify to the interest aroused by recent advances in cardiac surgery. It may, therefore, be helpful to recall certain landmarks in its history and to review the present status of those procedures which have proved of value. Congenital Heart Disease Although the surgical treatment of pulmonary stenosis is now soundl...

Nearly half a century has passed since quinidine was first used to convert atrial fibrillation to regular sinus rhythm in man (Frey, 1918). There is general agreement nowadays that the cardiorespiratory benefits resulting from the successful reversion of long-standing atrial fibrillation to sinus rhythm are worth the risk of quinidine therapy (Hay, 1924; Stroud, LaPlace, and Reisinger, 1932; Ko...