Here are some Cardiac Patient Stories from the Saint Barnabas Health
Care System.
Shortly after baby Daniel came
into the world, doctors diagnosed pulmonary atresia
with intact ventricular septum. It is a life-threatening
condition that requires immediate intervention.
Cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at Children’s
Heart Center at Children’s Hospital of New
Jersey at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center developed
an innovative minimally invasive treatment plan
that combined the use of existing surgical and
cather-based techniques to correct the blockage
of blood flow between his heart and lungs.
Pediatric cardiac surgeons opened Daniel’s
tiny chest to expose the front of his heart and
the pulmonary artery. They punctured the beating
heart below the closed pulmonary valve, then with
transesophageal echocardiography to guide their
efforts, a needle was passed precisely through
the wall of the right ventricle and then across
the malformed valve. Interventional cardiologists
then passed a soft guide wire through the valve,
following it with a balloon catheter that opened
the valve. The catheter was removed, and once blood
was pumping through the valve, the needle site
in the heart wall was closed with one stitch. The
surgeons then placed an aorta-to-pulmonary artery
shunt in order to provide an extra source of blood
flow to the lungs – again without having
to stop Daniels’ heart.
After an additional “routine” cardiac
catheterization to further dilate the narrowed pulmonary
valve and the right pulmonary artery, Daniel continues
to make good progress.
[ top ]
|
