[Follow-up after dilatation of congenital and acquired aortic stenosis].

Until 31 December 1987, a total of 85 transfemoral balloon valvuloplasties (TBV) had been performed for aortic valve stenosis, on 25 patients with noncalcified congenital and 58 (aged 66 +/- 10 years) with acquired (calcified) stenosis. The procedure had to be repeated in two infants because of early re-stenosis. The systolic transvalvular pressure gradient was reduced from 93 +/- 29 (mean +/- SD) to 51 +/- 20 mm Hg in acquired stenoses, and from 87 +/- 24 to 44 +/- 15 mm Hg in congenital stenoses. Invasive pressure measurements in 16 patients with acquired stenosis 3-11 months (mean of 8 months) post-TBV demonstrated partial or complete re-stenosis in all patients. In contrast, only 3 of 17 patients with congenital stenosis had significant re-stenosis 4-38 months (mean of 16 months) after TBV. These results demonstrate that TBV gives similar immediate results in acquired, calcified and congenital, non-calcified aortic stenosis. However, the intermediate and long-term results are much better in the congenital form, because re-stenosis is rare, whereas the primary success failed to persist in any of the patients with the acquired form.