Fourteen infants, all under 6 months of age, underwent surgery for the relief of severe valvar pulmonary stenosis. A modified Brock (transinfundibular valvotomy) procedure was performed in all cases. Dilatation of the pulmonary valve with a mosquito clamp and biliary dilator is the basis of the modified operation. All infants survived the operation. In two patients there is residual, significan...

Aorto-ventricular tunnel is an extremely rare congenital heart defect, consisting of failure of attachment of an aortic leaflet along the semilunar hinge. In all published reports the leaflet involved was either the right coronary leaflet, most frequently, or the left coronary leaflet, in most of the cases opening toward the left ventricle, with only one-eighth of the reported cases communicati...

Continuous-wave Doppler echocardiography was used to estimate pulmonary artery pressures by measuring pulmonary regurgitant flow velocity in 21 patients with pulmonary hypertension (mean pulmonary artery pressure 20 mm Hg) and 24 patients without pulmonary hypertension. The pulmonary regurgitant flow velocity patterns, characterized by a rapid rise in flow velocity immediately after closure of ...

The Melody® transcatheter pulmonary valve (TPV) is a percutaneous valve system designed for the treatment of obstruction and/or regurgitation of prosthetic conduits placed between the right ventricle and pulmonary arteries in patients with congenital heart disease. In 2000, Melody TPV became the first transcatheter valve implanted in a human; in 2006 it became the first transcatheter valve comm...

Continuous-wave Doppler echocardiography was used to estimate pulmonary artery pressures by measuring pulmonary regurgitant flow velocity in 21 patients with pulmonary hypertension (mean pulmonary artery pressure 20 mm Hg) and 24 patients without pulmonary hypertension. The pulmonary regurgitant flow velocity patterns, characterized by a rapid rise in flow velocity immediately after closure of ...

Pulmonary arterial early diastolic waves (V waves) were investigated in patients and experimental animals with mitral regurgitation. V waves exceeding systolic pressure in the pulmonary artery were recorded in the main pulmonary artery with micromanometer catheters both in patients and animals, eliminating the possibility of catheter artifact. In experimental animals, aortic closure preceded pu...

We report the case of a 42-year-old male who was admitted to the hospital with progressive dyspnea. Cardiomegaly and diffuse pulmonary edema were visible on chest X-ray and multiple oral and genital ulcers on physical examination. On admission, echocardiography revealed mitral valve prolapse (MVP) predominantly involving a basal portion of the posterior leaflet, with severe mitral regurgitation...

A vast unmet need exists for tricuspid valve (TV) repair for functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR) among patients undergoing left heart valve surgery. The FTR is a dynamic entity that is governed by several pathophysiologic mechanisms like TV annular dilatation, annular shape, pulmonary hypertension, left or right ventricle dysfunction, right ventricle geometry, and leaflet tethering. Treatm...

A 38-year-old female patient with a history of tetralogy of Fallot repair at 10 years of age underwent pulmonary valve replacement with a mechanical prosthesis, tricuspid annuloplasty, and right ventricular outflow tract cryoablation due to pulmonary regurgitation, tricuspid regurgitation, and multiple premature ventricular contractions with sustained ventricular tachycardia. After surgery, she...

BaIlon mitral valvuloplasty and closed mitral valve conunissurotomy were performed in 450 and 127 patients, respectively. Also, 254 patients with severe mitral stenosis were enrolled in a prospective randomized trial comparing the two procedures. Immediately after balloon mitral valvuloplasty, mean left atrial pressure was 11.38±3.54 mmHg, transmitral valve gradient was 1.8±2 mmHg, and mit...