Balloon valvuloplasty is an advanced heart procedure that is done to repair scarred mitral heart valve in patients with rheumatic heart disease. UAMS is home to one of only a handful of doctors in the nation who performs this procedure.
A balloon valvuloplasty was recently performed on a woman in the middle of her fifth month of pregnancy who came to UAMS with severe heart failure. By performing this procedure, open heart surgery was avoided, which would have posed a very serious risk to the patient and her baby.
