Br Heart J 1986;56:197-200 Editorial Interventional catheterisation in infants and children

In 1975, 15 balloon atrial septostomies were among 503 cardiac catheterisations performed at the Hospi-tal for Sick Children. Last year, 81 of 519 cardiac catheterisations were performed primarily for interventions. These included balloon and blade septostomy; balloon dilatation of pulmonary valves, aortic valves, recoarctations, and pulmonary arte-ries; myocardial biopsies; and embolisations. The paediatric catheter laboratory, which has been losing diagnostic practice to cross sectional echocardiography, now has a new raison d'etre. The tradition of interventional catheterisation in paediatric cardiology was established in 1966 when Rashkind and Miller introduced balloon atrial sep-tostomy and took the early palliation of transpositio