Balloon valvuloplasty began with pediatric cardiologists using catheters designed for dilatation of peripheral arterial stenosis in children with pulmonic stenosis and those with coarctation of the aorta. Balloon dilatation has been quite successful with pulmonic stenosis, and is now an accepted therapeutic maneuver. It is less successful with coarctation of the aorta. As a direct outgrowth of this research, investigators have applied this procedure to mitral and aortic stenosis in adults.