Percutaneous Transvenous Balloon Mitral Commissurotomy: A Single-Center Experience

Rheumatic heart disease and its impact on cardiac health is still a concern in developing countries. Percutaneous trans-mitral commissurotomy (PTMC) is the standard of care in managing severe rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS). This article reports a single-center, 10-year real-world experience in Qatar.

In this retrospective study, we reviewed all the patients who underwent PTMC in Qatar between January 1, 2012, and January 1, 2022. Periprocedural data were collected at baseline, postprocedural, 1 year, and during the last follow-up. The primary outcome was procedural success (improvement in valve area by 50%, final valve area >1.5 cm², and freedom from > moderate mitral regurgitation, stroke, or pericardial effusion). Safety endpoints were freedom from death, periprocedural cardiogenic shock and cardiac arrest, stroke urgent mitral valve replacement (MVR), or pericardiocentesis. Long-term outcomes included the requirement of redo PTMC or MVR, in addition to rehospitalization due to arrhythmias, heart failure, or stroke.

Sixty-five patients were included in the review (age 42 ± 10, female 38 [58.5%]). Sixty-two patients (95.4%) had a successful procedure. One patient developed a hemorrhagic pericardial tamponade and cardiogenic shock, for which he underwent pericardiocentesis and emergency aortic root repair. One patient developed acute stroke 8 h after the procedure, and one patient had tamponade resolved with emergency pericardiocentesis. Two patients required MVR after 1 and 4 years, respectively.

PTMC is the mainstay of rheumatic MS management in patients with suitable anatomy as most patients have excellent outcomes with long-term freedom from surgery, which has been the case in our single-center experience.