title: Aortic annular tear after valvuloplasty: the role of aortic annulus echocardiographic measurement.
abstract: Following percutaneous transluminal aortic valvuloplasty, 2/100 patients (2%) developed significant aortic insufficiency as a result of an aortic annular tear. Both patients underwent emergency aortic valve replacement and survived the operation. One patient died 4 weeks postoperatively from sepsis and multiorgan failure, and the other patient had a benign postoperative course. In both cases, the balloon area significantly exceeded the aortic annular area and caused the complication. Review of the balloon area-aortic annular area ratio in our series showed that a value of less than 1.2 was not associated with this complication.
authors.affiliation: St. Luke's Medical Center, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
authors.forename: R F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Lewin
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dorros
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Seifert
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Schmahl
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Auer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001021:Aortic Valve / Q000293:injuries* / Q000601:surgery; D001022:Aortic Valve Insufficiency / Q000209:etiology*; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002404:Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006335:Heart Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans