Left ventricular assist devices and percutaneous valve interventions have radically changed the treatment of advanced heart disease and minimized surgical morbidity in patients with end-stage heart failure who would not survive conventional surgery. We describe a successful approach to the simultaneous placement of a percutaneous left ventricular assist device and mitral valvuloplasty in a decompensated patient with end-stage ischemic cardiomyopathy, severe peripheral arterial disease, porcelain aorta, and severe mitral and aortic disease.
Keywords: Heart failure/therapy; heart-assist devices; mitral valve stenosis/therapy.