[Valvuloplasty and peripheral angioplasty with coronary dilatation catheters]

The further development of coronary balloon catheters has encouraged their use for dilating small vessels of other organs and stenoses in larger vessels not passable by conventional catheters. The technique was used successfully as a primary intervention in two stenoses of the external carotid artery preparatory to extra-intracranial anastomosis, in four anastomotic stenoses in three patients with Blalock-Taussig anastomosis, and in a subtotal anastomosis of a Cimino shunt. After failed dilatation attempts with a standard dilatation catheter in three patients with four renal artery stenoses and two with subclavian artery stenosis, coronary angioplasty catheters successfully dilated the stenoses. In two infants with severe valval aortic stenosis and left-heart failure, retrograde transluminal balloon dilatation reduced the transvalval gradient from 70 to 30-40 mm Hg.