Associate Professor Kataoka's research group has developed a diagnostic method using echocardiography with a new stress method.

Teikyo University School of Medicine Internal Medicine Department of Medicine Associate Professor Akihisa Kataoka and his research group at the same department Teaching Associate Kento Kito and his colleagues have developed a diagnostic method using echocardiography with a new loading method named the "party balloon loading method".
As an alternative to the conventionally used Valsalva maneuver, this method is characterized by the intuitive action of inflating a small balloon to change intra-thoracic pressure in a constant and safe manner, and by its high reproducibility because the examiner can visualize the loading state. This allows safe testing of elderly people and post-stroke patients, who have had difficulty with loading tests, and is expected to improve the diagnostic accuracy of cardiac diseases such as hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) and patent foramen ovale (PFO).
The results of the pilot study and the multicenter clinical study (INFLATE-PFO registry) were published in the international scientific journal "European Heart Journal - Imaging Methods & Practice" on June 3, 2025 and June 12, 2025, respectively. ; Practice.

Click here for press release
For more information about Kataoka Associate Professor
For more information about Kito Teaching Associate

To the topic List