European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, Vol 10, 666-670, Copyright © 1996 by European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
Balloon mitral commissurotomy: an intraoperative assessment
R Gupta, SK Khanna, A Banerjee, RC Mishra, BK Gupta, M Nigam, DK Satsangi, AS Tomar, DK Tempe, R Arora and M Khalilullah
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, G.B. Pant Hospital, New Delhi, India.
OBJECTIVE: Advances in balloon catheter technology have revolutionized the
management of obstructive cardiovascular diseases. For lesions like mitral
stenosis, balloon commissurotomy has emerged as an alternative to surgical
relief showing definite functional benefits in a few clinical trials,
albeit with variable results. Such variability necessitated objective
evaluation of the efficacy of balloon mitral commissurotomy. METHODS: The
balloon mitral commissurotomy was carried out in 11 patients suffering from
isolated mitral stenosis, under vision in a surgical setting. All patients
were in NYHA class III/IV. Initially single balloon was used for mitral
commissurotomy followed by double balloon, before completing the mitral
valvotomy with surgical instruments whenever required. The commissural
split was measured by firmly stretching the two commissures using nerve
hooks and measuring the distance between the two hooks with the help of a
caliper. Assessment of balloon dilation was made by calculating exact
percentage of residual commissural split following balloon dilation as
compared with completed mitral valvotomy. The exact percentage of
commissural split was thus obtained by subtracting residual commissural
split following balloon dilation from commissural split obtained after
surgical open mitral valvotomy. RESULTS: Complete commissurotomy using the
balloon technique was possible in two (18.2%) patients. In the remaining
nine (81.8%) patients, balloon expansion provided only 50% to 80% of
commissural split and required instrumental completion with good results.
CONCLUSIONS: Balloon mitral commissurotomy, by virtue of its
circumferential force, helps to develop a good cleavage and attains good
hemodynamic improvement which may be life saving in critical mitral
stenosis in selected group of patients with pliable mitral leaflets and
minimal subvalvular pathology.