The hospital began a program in 2020 to operate on congenital heart disease, but continued to refer some cases to other communities
La Arrixaca is preparing to perform highly complex pediatric cardiac surgery, which will make it possible to put an end to the referral of children who require these operations to other communities. As reported by the hospital management, the pediatric ICU staff will be trained over the next week in the use of mechanical circulatory assistance and extracorporeal respiration (ECMO) systems, essential to be able to safely carry out this type of surgeries.
Until 2020, children with congenital heart disease that required an operation were referred to Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona or operated on in La Arrixaca by a professional who traveled twice a month from this Catalan hospital. The situation changed that year, when the Murcian Health Service (SMS) hired a reference surgeon in this field, Juan Miguel Aguilar, who came from the 12 de Octubre Hospital in Madrid. This meant a before and after, and this was celebrated by the families of children with heart disease, grouped in the Todo Corazón association.
Until now, however, the new pediatric cardiac surgery program had not been able to take on all the interventions, since the pediatric ICU lacked mechanical assistance systems and extracorporeal respiration, equipment that is vital to guarantee the safety of these surgeries. Now, the hospital is about to take this final step, with the addition of an ECMO to pediatric intensive care.
From November
At the moment, and pending the completion of the training of all the staff, the pediatric cardiac surgery program is going through a break. Since the beginning of the summer, only urgent interventions have been attended to. The management of La Arrixaca considered that the optimal thing was to wait for the incorporation of ECMO into the program. “Due to the increasing complexity of pediatric cardiac surgery interventions, ECMO training is necessary for the professionals involved in caring for these children,” hospital management sources pointed out. The training could not be carried out in the summer “due to the substitutions of the Nursing team”, and for this reason “they have waited for the full incorporation of the stable staff”.
In La Arrixaca, between 100 and 150 cases of congenital heart disease are diagnosed each year. About 50 children undergo surgery, many of them in the first weeks of life.
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