VALVULAR INTERVENTIONS

Percutaneous valve therapies offer heart valve interventions without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. This creates many new possibilities for patients, especially those who are deemed either high risk or inoperable by the usual surgical standards. Newer device iterations and longer term follow-up will be necessary as the field moves forward.

The technique of percutaneous valve dilatation has proven efficacy in the treatment of mitral stenosis as a substitute for surgical commissurotomy and as a complement to valve replacement.

Novel techniques and devices have given rise to the possible treatment of a range of valvular heart diseases that previously necessitated surgical therapies, including aortic stenosis, pulmonary regurgitation and mitral regurgitation.