A new steerable cardiac catheter for crossing stenotic aortic valves.
A new cardiac catheter for crossing severely stenotic aortic valves is described.  This catheter is an externally steerable one and it was used successfully and uneventfully in 12 patients after a conventional catheter had failed to cross the aortic valve.  Six of the patients underwent aortic valvuloplasty.  The most advantageous feature of the new catheter is its ability to scan the aortic valve orifice under entirely external manipulation.
Department of Cardiology, University of Athens Medical School, Greece.
C
C
Stefanadis
I
I
Gavaliatsis
P
P
Toutouzas
D000368:Aged; D001024:Aortic Valve Stenosis / Q000628:therapy*; D006328:Cardiac Catheterization / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male