Percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty for calcific aortic stenosis. A treatment ‘sine cure’?

Twenty-five elderly patients with calcific aortic stenosis, 12 made (48%) and 13 female (52%), mean age 74.8±7.6 years, underwent percutaneous aortic balloon valvuloplasty between March 1986 and September 1987. Twenty-two patients (88%) were in class III–IV of the New York Heart Association, 13 (52%) had a history of previous angina and 7 (28%) of syncopal attacks. All patients has been considered either unsuitable or high-risk candidates for aortic-valve replacement because of age or associated diseases. Balloons of increasing size (area ranging from 1.3 to 3.8 cm2 during inflation) were successively passed retrogradely from the femoral artery and manually inflated to 3–7 atmospheres. Inflation duration ranged from 15 to 260 s (mean 40 s). Post-dilatation there were significant changes in left ventricular peak-systolic and end-diastolic pressures (P