Treatments: Valvuloplasty

What is valvuloplasty?
Why would a doctor recommend valvuloplasty?
What does a valvuloplasty involve?
How long is the recovery after a valvuloplasty?

What is valvuloplasty?

Valvuloplasty uses a thin, flexible tube called a catheter to widen a narrowed heart valve.

PTAV (percutaneous transluminal aortic valvuloplasty) widens the aortic valve, the main valve through which blood exits the heart.

PTMV (percutaneous transluminal mitral valvuloplasty) fixes problems with the mitral valve, the part that controls the flow of blood between the left atrium and left ventricle.

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Why would a doctor recommend valvuloplasty?

A heart with narrowed valves can't pump as efficiently as a normal heart, and has trouble delivering blood to the body. Valvuloplasty can repair the heart valves of people born with dangerously narrow valves (congenital stenosis). It is also used to fix narrowed aortic valves (aortic stenosis), as well as damaged mitral valves (mitral valve stenosis).

In some cases, valvuloplasty can take the place of more intensive valve repair or replacement surgeries.

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What does valvuloplasty involve?

With the patient awake and under local pain medicine, the doctor inserts a special catheter into an artery, usually near the patient's groin. Using an X-ray camera, the doctor guides the catheter to the site of the damaged heart valve.

The catheter has a deflated balloon at its tip. When this balloon is inflated, it widens the narrowed opening in the valve. This improves blood flow through the heart, and helps the heart deliver blood to the rest of the body.

The balloon is then deflated and the catheter removed. The procedure takes about an hour.

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How long is the recovery after a valvuloplasty?

Patients usually stay in the hospital overnight and return home the next day.

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