Thomas J. E. O'neill

Does Mitral Stenosis Recur after Commissurotomy

The ultimate fate of the incised commissure following surgery for mitral stenosis will remain unknown for years to come. A clinical appraisal of patients living five years after commissurotomy and a review of available autopsy material from patients surviving surgery for periods up to four years indicates that valvular restenosis does not occur within the first half decade provided the commissurotomy has been properly performed.

Mitral Commissurotomy in the Older Aged Patient: An Analysis of Twenty Patients Over the Age of Fifty

An analysis of 20 consecutive cases of mitral stenosis (from a total of 400 cases) in patients between the ages of 50 and 61 treated by mitral commissurotomy from May 1951, to October 1952, is presented. The data suggests that the patient over 50 with symptomatic mitral stenosis can have a functionally satisfactory commissurotomy performed without undue operative risk and with essentially the same ultimate degree of improvement enjoyed by patients requiring treatment at an earlier age.

The direct surgical attack on pulmonary stenosis in the tetralogy of Fallot.

Summary Thirty consecutive patients with the tetralogy of Fallot have been operated upon, using a direct intracardiac approach to relieve the pulmonary stenosis. Twenty-three patients have survived and the results have been very satisfactory. The over-all mortality rate was 23.3 per cent, the operative mortality rate being 20 per cent. The objections to this direct relief of the stenosis are briefly reviewed and its advantages summarized.