For the first time in Spain, the Community of Madrid has implanted an intracorporeal cardiac device in a pediatric patient. This ventricular assist (VA) procedure, which was successfully performed on September 30 at the La Paz University Public Hospital, was used due to its size in adults or adolescents, and to date in the child population it had been used external long life consoles until surgical intervention.
The beneficiary of this advance in Madrid’s public health system is a 12 year old girlwho was admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of La Paz from another autonomous community, and is currently recovering favorably at home. His clinical situation was critical due to a ‘cardiogenic shockdue to ventricular dysfunction that prevented blood from pumping to the heart and oxygen to the brain and other vital organs. Furthermore, it presented a tumor process and the chemotherapy to which she had to be subjected caused cardiotoxicity, which translates into cardiac or ventricular dysfunction.
The doctors’ first option was to change extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support for long-term VA. However, it was finally decided to implant the console inside the girl’s body to provide you with the highest quality of life possible until functional recovery or inclusion on the transplant waiting list.
Coordinated and multidisciplinary work
This milestone has been possible thanks to the coordinated and multidisciplinary work of medical and Peace Nursing professionals, such as those from the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Service, Pediatric Cardiology, Pediatric Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, Pediatric Intensive Care, Radiology and medical engineering, as well as the collaboration and advice from different professionals from Spain and Europe.
The La Paz University Hospital is national and international reference in heart transplants. Its specific program for minors began in 1994, and that for adults with congenital heart disease since 2018. To date, the complex has performed more than 140 procedures of this type, 36 of them in children.
#Peace #Hospital #implants #artificial #heart #pediatric #patient #time #Spain
