Abul-Rish University Hospital succeeded in implanting the first pulmonary valve for a 10-year-old child in an experiment, the first of its kind in Egypt and the Middle East.
Abul-Rish University Hospital performed the first transplantation of the pulmonary valve through the catheter for a child suffering from tetralogy of Fallot, through a specialized medical team and with the participation of the Italian expert Mario Carmenati, Head of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Catheterization at the Poly Clinic Hospital in San Donato, Italy..
Dr. Hala Agha, Professor and Head of the Pediatric Cardiology Department at Abu Al-Rish University Hospital, revealed, in an exclusive statement to “The Seventh Day”, that a number of foreign experts visited Abu Al-Rish University Hospital to perform the first pulmonary valve transplant through catheterization for children, which is being done for the first time. In Egypt and the Middle East, as a result of a rare birth defect called tetralogy of Fallot.
She said: Today, the pulmonary valve was implanted through a catheter, which is the first of its kind in university hospitals, explaining that this surgery is important in that it avoids the patient performing an open-heart operation, which costs about 350 thousand pounds, through donations, adding that the child’s parents cannot bear Any cost, explaining that despite the expensive price of the operation, it has great advantages so that the child is not exposed to an open heart operation.
He added that the catheterization was attended by Professor Mario Carmenati, an expert and head of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Catheterization at the Poly Clinic in San Donato, Italy, who helps the medical team in implanting the pulmonary valve, and trains young doctors at Abu Al-Rish Japanese Hospital through a two-day workshop..
For his part, Dr. Mario Carmenati, an expert and head of the Department of Pediatric Cardiology and Catheterization at the Poly Clinic in San Donato, Italy, added that it is important to perform pulmonary valve transplants through the catheter, as the sick child avoids staying for a long time in the hospital, does not need blood transfusion, and avoids open-heart surgery, He does not need to make a large opening in the chest as a result of the surgery, as the child comes out after 48 hours and takes only anti-clotting drugs.
And she continued that the congenital defect of the tetralogy of Fallot is mainly treated through surgery, and after surgery, it is through the catheter to close the hole and expand the right ventricular course, explaining that once the valve weakens and does not perform its function, whether the patient is exposed to the two approaches and lack of effort, the catheter room must be entered to implant the pulmonary valve, Noting that there are 7 children who have been prepared for valve implantation, and 3 others are using a new type of stent that enters for the first time in Egypt, which is a stent loaded with a balloon, as Professor Mario brought it with him as a gift from him to Abu Al-Rish University Hospital.
Dr. Hala Agha with the foreign expert before performing the catheterization
For her part, Dr. Sahar Shaker, Professor of Pediatric Cardiology at Abu Al-Rish Japanese Hospital, said that a new stent was successfully installed for a rare case of a 7-year-old child suffering from atrophy of the aorta as a result of a complex congenital heart defect, stressing that this case is one of the rare cases, as it constitutes about 1 To 2% of cases of birth defects, which constitute a high degree of risk and difficulty, as the narrowing represents 1.7 mm of the artery.
The Italian Professor
She explained, that the arteries in children are weak, and modern technologies use stents of a new type in order to try to expand the aorta, because the child suffers from two approaches, headache, high blood pressure and a difference in blood pressure from the upper part to the lower part..
She pointed out that we performed multi-sectional x-rays, and foreign experts brought a type of catheter to be entered for the first time in Egypt, because the surgery has risks, as the child may bleed and lead to death..
It is reported that the two children fully recovered, after implanting the pulmonary valve by catheterization in the first child, and installing a stent in the second child, and they were discharged from the hospital less than 48 hours later.