Clinical Experience of Percutaneous Mitral Balloon Valvuloplasty with Inoue Balloon

Percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty was introduced by Dr. Inoue in 1984 and it is now widely used in the treatment of mitral stenosis due to its simple design to use.

From September 1993 to January 1996, 11 cases of percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty were performed at the Ewha Womans University Hospital.

Following the percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty, the mitral valve opening area was increased from 1.18±0.34cm² to 1.91±0.62cm²(p<0.001). The mean mitral valve diastolic pressure gradient was decreased from 14.35±6.00mmHg to 5.41±4.03mmHg.(p<0.001) The NYHA functional class was improved significantly. Among 11 cases, 1 case(9%) was failed to expand mitral valve opening area and another 1 case developed grade 2 of mitral regurgitation. But there was no life threatening complication such as cardiac tamponade.

It is concluded that percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty with Inoue alloon is an effective and simple method for most patient with mitral stenosis who do not have thrombi.