Percutaneous Balloon Valvuloplasty: A New Method for Treating Congenital Pulmonary-Valve Stenosis

TRANSLUMINAL balloon angioplasty has been increasingly accepted as a nonsurgical technique for dilatation of stenotic arteries in the peripheral, renal, and coronary circulations.1 2 3 4 5 6 The physical principles governing balloon angioplasty7 depend on transmission of a controlled radial force through a rigid balloon. The characteristics of the stenotic tissue determine the effectiveness of the dilatation process.Application of the balloon-dilatation principle to intracardiac valves has not been described. However, Semb et al. have relieved congenital pulmonary-valve stenosis by pulling a carbon dioxide-filled balloon from the pulmonary artery to the right ventricle.8 We thought that balloon valvuloplasty of the congenitally stenotic pulmonary valve . . .