الفهرس 
Anatomy of the mitral valveOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
For over a decade balloon mitral valvuloplasty was the treatment of choice for severe mitral stenosis and replaced surgical commissurotomy in many selected cases. In spite of this, balloon mitral valvuloplasty has many shortcomings; partial or none splitting of one ofthe two mitral commissures, occasional tearing of the mitral leaflets or subvalvular structures with varying degrees of mitral incompetence, nonphysiological balloon occlusion of the valve during repeated inflation, and the cost of the balloon set. In addition, the cost of the balloon catheters still limits its application in developing countries, which are precisely those countries with the highest incidence of mitral stenosis. Consequently, the balloon catheters, despite being provided as disposable catheters, are reused several times and carry potential hazards due to imperfect sterilization and decreasing performance. For these reasons, Cribier A. et a1 in 1996 invented the metallic commissurotome. It was tested in many centers allover the world for the safety and results.