This minimally invasive approach also helps to avoid cultural barriers to treatment: manipulating a heart is considered an act of desecration on the human soul by some indigenous communities in Bolivia.
"By not operating with an open heart" says Dr Freudenthal, "We are also respecting the will of many patients who would not want their children to be operated otherwise."
It may have practical short term benefits but bending medicine to suit culture is not generally great. If somebody invented a way to prevent measles without a vaccine. It might be a good idea but not for the reason that it respects the will of parents who don't want their children vaccinated for "cultural" (i.e. superstitious) reasons.
I wonder if this, or a variant, would be appropriate for septal defects? My daughter had open-heart surgery at a very young age (~11 months) due to an atrial septal defect. It would be astounding if this were a viable option to avoid such drastically invasive surgery.
I was born with the same defect and had noninvasive heart surgery to close it over a decade ago, shortly after the procedure was approved. I'm not sure it can be done for toddlers, though definitely at a young age (I was 12).
I don't remember what it is called (I believe it's a mini thorocatomy) but they used a camera through my esophagus and a catheder inserted through the vein in my leg to inject the device to close the hole with no open heart surgery, only a few days recovery time in the hospital, and a few months before I was finally able to play most sports.
My dog had this procedure done when he was a puppy which saved his life. The standard procedure is to crack open the dog's chest and tie this pathway off. This is the old way of doing it; we don't do this to humans anymore as there are a lot of risks involved and it takes a long time to heal. The much more expensive but safe procedure is to go through the femoral artery. He now has a platinum coil in his heart and no longer has a femoral pulse because they tie it off.
mfoy_|10 years ago
I still think the coolest part is that this knitted thing is inserted into your groin and it ends up unfolding in your heart.
bpg_92|10 years ago
Mz|10 years ago
"By not operating with an open heart" says Dr Freudenthal, "We are also respecting the will of many patients who would not want their children to be operated otherwise."
The concept and entire article are both nifty.
Asbostos|10 years ago
eric_the_read|10 years ago
akiselev|10 years ago
I don't remember what it is called (I believe it's a mini thorocatomy) but they used a camera through my esophagus and a catheder inserted through the vein in my leg to inject the device to close the hole with no open heart surgery, only a few days recovery time in the hospital, and a few months before I was finally able to play most sports.
feld|10 years ago
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/pda/
pen2l|10 years ago