Stenosis is the commonest lesion of the aortic valve and generally results from the organization of the endocardial exudate accompanying rheumatic activity. Less frequently it may be due to a congenital malformation, in which the valve is usually bicuspid, or to a degenerative calcific sclerosis. In the rheumatic type, the valvular orifice is either symmetrically or eccentrically reduced by the fusion of the commissures. The basic structural change may be complicated at any point in its development by calcific infiltration. A surgical method to correct the commissural fusion of rheumatic aortic stenosis was conceived and employed by Bailey and his associates in 1950.1This study analyzes the clinical experiences in a group of patients who have been treated with this procedure since that time. It is restricted to the 79 patients who had an aortic commissurotomy alone. Another 78 who had aortic and mitral commissurotomies simultaneously will be reviewed