DOHA: Two successful cardiac procedures were performed recently at Hamad General Hospital (HGH) while delegates at an international conference in Dubai observed these via live transmission.
The cases were jointly carried out by a team led by Dr Hesham Al Saloos, Paediatric Cardiologist, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), and Prof. Ziyad Hijazi, Chairman, Paediatrics, Sidra Medical and research Centre (Sidra). Both procedures were transmitted live to more than 450 delegates at the Paediatric and Adult Interventional Cardiac Catheter Intervention and Congenital and Structural Heart Disease Symposia (PICS-CSI Asia).
The first procedure was performed on a 10-year-old Qatari boy suffering from a leaky heart valve and dilation of his right ventricle.
The team carried out a transvenous pulmonary valve implantation — a procedure to insert a new pulmonary valve without surgery.
The second live transmission case involved an adult male Bangladeshi patient who had a large hole in the wall that separates the top two chambers of the heart.
The hole was closed transvenously using a closure device.
Both patients received a therapeutic cardiac catheterisation and avoided the need for traditional open heart surgery.
This meant there was no surgical wound and a heart-lung machine and recovery in the Intensive Care Unit were not required. Both were kept under observation in the ward overnight and discharged the following day.
Dr Al Saloos said, “It was a great honour to be invited by the PICS-CSI Asia conference to transmit these live cases to its delegates. “This was the first time interventional cases at HMC have been broadcast live in this way and enabled us to showcase the high quality of our therapeutic cardiac catheterisation to hundreds of cardiac medical professionals.”
Prof. Hijazi said, “Live transmissions are a widely used educational and training tool across the medical world. “As the course director of the PICS/CSI meetings and having conducted similar transmissions in the US, I was very pleased that we had the opportunity to showcase the procedures from Qatar.
“The most important thing to come out of these successful surgeries was that both patients’ lives were saved. This is also testament to the level of expertise we have here and that together with HMC, Sidra continues to break new ground to help advance patient-focused and safe healthcare services for the people of Qatar.”
The Peninsula
