Percutaneous balloon dilatation of the mitral valve is a promising new approach to the management of rheumatic mitral stenosis.1w But at this early stage little is known about the criteria for patient selection or the mechanism by which balloon dilatation increases mitral valve area. Previous experience with closed surgical commissurotomy suggests that mitral valve pliability and the degree of leaflet thickening have an important effect on subsequent outcome.'"" Because cross sectional echocardiography shows the structure of the mitral apparatus, the severity of the stenotic lesion, and changes in chamber size"617 it should provide information that will predict the likely outcome of balloon dilatation. Patients and methodsWe studied the first 22 patients (four men and 18 women) who had percutaneous balloon dilatationRequests for reprints to Dr

Ingestion of a meal rich in fat previously used for deep frying in a commercial fast food restaurant resulted in impaired arterial endothelial function. These findings suggest that intake of degradation products of heated fat contribute to endothelial dysfunction.

We studied 130 patients undergoing percutaneous balloon mitral valvotomy. The relation between valvular morphology according to a previously described echocardiographic scoring system and hemodynamic outcome expressed as qualitative ("good" and

clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00091637.

This study reports the clinical follow-up (13±1 months) of 100 consecutive patients who underwent percutaneous mitral balloon valvotomy (PMV). Echocardiographic (n=32) and cardiac catheterization (n=37) data from this group are also included.