Doctors for treatment of Pediatric cardiac surgery
Doctors for the treatment of pediatric cardiac surgery
Frequently Asked Questions
The heart’s main role is to pump blood through blood vessels. The movement of blood is called hemodynamics. If the heart does not work properly because of illness, hemodynamics are disrupted. This can lead to the development of related diseases, severe complications, and even death.
Even if the heart is contracting correctly, at the right pace and rhythm, the chambers and vessels of the heart may not be positioned correctly. This also leads to impaired blood circulation.
In these cases, experts consider cardiac surgery.
- Fallot tetrad;
- Iatrial and ventricular septal defect;
- Mitral stenosis;
- Aortic stenosis;
- Aortic coarctation;
- Open arterial duct;
- Congenital arrhythmias.
Doctors perform operations on newborn children, teenagers and adults. Internationally, they prefer minimally invasive surgeries without full opening of the chest.
The total length of stay is 3-4 weeks. During this time, the child will be examined, an operation will be performed, and rehabilitation measures will be carried out. After discharge, the child’s condition is monitored for two weeks.
To choose a medical center, you need to consider such factors:
- The presence of a specialized cardiac surgery center for children. Also, other subspecialists are involved in the treatment of such patients. That’s why it’s important for the hospital to be multi-specialty;
- International accreditations and certifications confirm that the hospital has all the resources it needs to provide quality care;
- To provide quality diagnosis and necessary treatment the hospital must be equipped with all necessary equipment: angiography and cardiovascular machines, CT, MRI, etc.
Heart surgery is a serious decision. Before an intervention is performed, specialists will thoroughly examine the child. The doctor may order one of the following tests:
- An examination and consultation with subspecialists: cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, neonatologist, nephrologist, etc.;
- Electrocardiogram;
- Cardiac ultrasound;
- Doppler-enhanced vascular ultrasound;
- Angiography;
- Study of the heart at rest and with exercise;
- Chest radiography.
Ross surgery
Normally, the human heart has valves that prevent blood from flowing back when the ventricle contracts. When the left ventricle of the heart contracts, oxygenated blood spreads through the aorta and then through the vascular system and throughout the body.
The heart’s aortic valve may be severely narrowed or not fully functional. In the first case, doctors speak of stenosis and in the second, insufficiency of the aortic valve.
During Ross surgery, the surgeon exchanges the affected aortic valve for the patient’s pulmonary valve. A donor valve is inserted in place of the pulmonary valve.
For children, Ross surgery is the «gold standard» treatment for aortic valve stenosis and insufficiency. The child’s own pulmonary valve grows with the child. At the same time, it is not necessary to take blood thinners every day.
Annuloplasty
To eliminate the backflow of blood, regurgitation, the doctor performs a special operation that strengthens the muscular framework of the heart valve and eliminates the return of blood into the heart chambers.
Abroad, the operation is performed minimally invasively, through a small incision in the chest — lateral thoracotomy.
Correcting mitral valve stenosis
The mitral, or bicuspid heart valve, prevents blood from the left ventricle from flowing back into the left atrium during heart contraction.
The bicuspid valve can be severely narrowed due to congenital abnormalities or other diseases. This is called stenosis of the mitral valve. In foreign medical centers, this can be done in the first days of a child’s life.
The procedure is done without cutting or damaging healthy tissue. A thin tube is inserted into a blood vessel and brought to the mitral valve. A balloon is inflated at the end of the tube to remove the stenosis and widen the lumen. This procedure is called a mitral valvuloplasty.
If your child needs heart surgery, we can choose a specialized medical center for you.
Leave an application on MedTour platform — our medical coordinator will contact you, take a detailed anamnesis, review medical documentation and help with the selection of the clinic.
We help with airfare, transfers and accommodation close to the hospital. Our services are free for all patients.
Benefits of pediatric cardiac surgery abroad (2021)
Experienced medical team
Most foreign medical centers practice interdisciplinary patient management. This means that the treatment involves a team of specialists:
- Pediatrician;
- Cardiologist;
- Neonatologist;
- Cardiac surgeon;
- Resuscitator;
- Nephrologist;
- Vascular surgeon.
At weekly meetings, specialists discuss the patient’s current condition and plan further treatment. The interdisciplinary approach makes it possible to find the optimal treatment tactics and reduces the chance of medical error.
Safety
We have collected for you the best foreign medical centers for pediatric heart treatment. Clinics ranking is based on patients reviews, doctors’ opinions, level of clinic, international accreditations and certifications.
Safety and level of service is confirmed by international standards ISO and accreditation by the Joint Commission JCI. This guarantees that all medical procedures are carried out according to the latest treatment protocols.
Low Trauma
Unfortunately, most clinics, until recently, still used surgical access through full opening of the thorax — sternotomies. In the leading foreign hospitals, physicians prefer ministerotomy or operate through intercostal access.
Some congenital heart defects can be repaired using a catheter, a small tube with a special device on the end. The catheter is inserted through the arteries in the arm or leg.
Advantages of minimally invasive surgery:
- Short rehabilitation period (1 week on average);
- Infectious complications and bleeding develop in less than 0.5%;
- New surgical techniques take less time;
- Postoperative scars are less visible.
Early diagnosis and treatment
Modern equipment and the experience of doctors allow detection of cardiovascular pathology in children at an early stage. Some diseases are detected during ultrasound examination of a pregnant woman.
The sphere of scientific and practical interest of the leading cardiosurgical centers is surgery during the first days of a child’s life or fetal surgery — operations performed on an embryo during a woman’s pregnancy.
