Percutaneous Balloon Valvuloplasty, Balloon Dilation Valvuloplasty, NY

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Cardiology

Balloon Valvuloplasty for Heart Valve Disease

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For appropriate cases, cardiologists at NewYork-Presbyterian offer minimally invasive options for the treatment of aortic, mitral, or pulmonary stenosis–conditions in which the opening of the valve is narrowed (stenotic) and restricts blood flow.

For select patients with aortic stenosis and for the majority of patients with pulmonic stenosis or mitral stenosis, valvuloplasty is a preferred alternative to open heart surgery.

What is Balloon Valvuloplasty?

Balloon valvuloplasty is a procedure in which the narrowed heart valve is stretched open without open-heart surgery.

During this procedure:

a small incision is made in the skin and a catheter is inserted into an artery or vein in the leg using a local anesthetic and conscious sedation (relaxing medications).
A balloon-tipped catheter is advanced into the heart and across the narrowed valve.
When in place, the balloon is expanded to open the valve, resulting in improved blood flow across the diseased valve.

While individual circumstances vary, patients may be discharged as soon as the following day.