There have been many reports in the past few years of the results of mitral valvotomy (Sellors, Bedford, and Somerville, 1953; Goodwin et al., 1955; Logan and Turner, 1953, 1959; Ellis, Harken, and Black, 1959; Baker and Hancock, 1960; and others). However, the majority of patients reported on are in the "older" group above 20 years. Reports on young patients who had mitral valvotomy are relati...

Pregnancy can cause life threatening complications in women with mitral stenosis, and there is a substantial risk of fetal death if valvotomy under cardiopulmonary bypass is required. A patient is described in whom pulmonary oedema developed after delivery of her first child by caesarean section 13 months previously. Subsequent cardiac catheterisation showed severe mitral stenosis (valve area 0...

While examining and reporting on the radiographs taken routinely following all thoracic surgical procedures at St. Mary's Hospital, it was noted that in a high proportion of cases extensive and diffuse peripheral opacification was present in that hemithorax which was dependent and unopened during the thoracotomy, i.e., in the lung and/or pleural cavity contralateral to that of the surgical appr...

Objective: To review the evolution of the management approach for pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum (PAIVS) in the past two decades and to assess its impact on patient outcomes. Design and patients: Retrospective review of the management and outcomes of 94 patients (55 male patients) with PAIVS diagnosed between July 1980 and August 2003. Settings: Tertiary paediatric cardiac cen...

OBJECTIVE To review the evolution of the management approach for pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum (PAIVS) in the past two decades and to assess its impact on patient outcomes. DESIGN AND PATIENTS Retrospective review of the management and outcomes of 94 patients (55 male patients) with PAIVS diagnosed between July 1980 and August 2003. SETTINGS Tertiary paediatric cardiac ce...

Two hundred patients aged 17-40 years undergoing closed mitral valvotomy during 1955-60 were studied by actuarial survival analysis. The period of follow up was 22-27 years. The following preoperative features were found to be independent predictors of long term survival: sinus rhythm (p less than 0.05); pulmonary arterial pressure below systemic pressure (p less than 0.01); absence of congesti...

During the past 14 years, 28 infants (23 males) underwent valvotomy for severe aortic stenosis at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. The median age was two months and the oldest patient was six months old. Congestive heart failure was present in all but two babies. Preoperatively, the electrocardiogram was abnormal in all, with left ventricular hypertrophy and a strain pattern be...