Percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty for severe mitral stenosis in pregnancy. Four case reports.

Four pregnant women with mitral stenosis who did not respond to medical therapy underwent successful percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty with complete resolution of their symptoms. Their clinical features and echocardial and hemodynamic data are presented. The procedures and the remainder of their pregnancy were uncomplicated.

Silent myocardial ischemia in Behçet's disease.

Objective: Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystemic disorder usually described as a triple symptom complex consisting of aphthous stomatitis, genital ulcerations, and uveitis. Vasculitis is a key feature of the disease, which may lead to functional disturbances in highly vascularized organs. However, cardiac involvement is seldom recognized.

Late percutaneous extraction of an intracardiac catheter fragment.

A patient was found to have a mobile catheter fragment in the right atrium incidentally during echocardiography. On further investigation, it was learned that the catheter had been inserted 9 years earlier during surgery and had probably been broken during removal. The patient did not experience any symptoms during this period.