Intracardiac Echocardiography-Guided Percutaneous Mitral Balloon Commissurotomy: Technique and Early Experience

Background: Percutaneous mitral balloon commissurotomy (PMBC) is the gold standard for the treatment of patients with symptomatic rheumatic mitral valve (MV) stenosis and favorable valve morphology. Intracardiac ultrasound (ICE)-guided PMBC is an attractive alternative to standard transesophageal echocardiography guidance for simplification of procedure and avoiding general anesthesia.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all ICE-guided PMBC cases at our institution between July 2020 and November 2023. Procedural success was defined as post-PMBC MV area ≥1.5 cm²; or an increase of ≥0.5 cm² in MV area associated with echocardiographic mitral regurgitation (MR) that is ≤moderate post-PMBC. Six-month follow-up data were collected.

Results: We identified 11 subjects for whom ICE-guided PMBC was attempted. The mean age of the subjects was 61.7 (±12.1) years. All, but one, were females. Out of the 11 subjects, 2 did not undergo PMBC; one had baseline severe MV regurgitation identified on ICE, and the other developed a pericardial effusion following transeptal puncture that needed an urgent pericardial window. The protocol-defined procedural success was achieved in all nine patients who underwent PMBC. Post-PMBC mean MV gradient was 4.4 (±2.0) as compared to 11.1 (±2.9) mmHg at baseline. At 6-month follow-up, 8 of the 9 patients had ≤New York Heart Association class II symptoms.

Conclusions: ICE-guided PMBC appears to be feasible and safe. ICE-guided PMBC offers several advantages over transesophageal echocardiography guidance including improving patient comfort and eliminating the need for patient intubation and general anesthesia.