2 complete endoscopic heart surgeries for the world's lightest baby
Since birth, baby H.A (Nha Trang) has been diagnosed with congenital heart disease with many combined lesions, including a large atrial septal defect and the entire right pulmonary vein being in the wrong position. If not operated on soon, the baby will face right heart failure and pulmonary fibrosis.
To give H.A. a healthy heart, doctors at Vinmec Times City Hospital, headed by Dr. Dang Quang Huy, decided to perform a complete endoscopic heart surgery to repair H.A.'s heart damage 6 months ago. At that time, the child was only 3 years old and weighed 18kg.
Seeing her child playing and running around healthily, without constant bouts of pneumonia or worries about heart failure like before, H.A's mother emotionally said: "Her chest is intact, with almost no scars. This is really important for her in the future, especially for girls who have to undergo treatment for congenital heart disease."
According to Dr. Dang Quang Huy, endoscopic surgery of the entire heart for adults is already very complicated, but for children, this challenge is multiplied many times over due to the extremely strict technical requirements and the extremely difficult establishment of extracorporeal circulation (artificial heart-lung machine).
Dr. Huy has even successfully operated on patients who are much more special than baby H.A - who can be considered the lightest in the world. According to the usual standards, complete endoscopic heart surgery for children is usually only performed when they weigh about 13kg or more. However, there were 2 children whose families brought them to Dr. Huy when they weighed only 10.5kg and 11kg.
With such a small weight, the surgery became much more difficult because the baby's femoral artery was too small, forcing the doctors to use the method of inserting a catheter into the aorta directly through the chest wall. This entire operation was performed using an endoscope.
Thanks to endoscopic surgery, the two children avoided having to saw off the entire sternum. At this age, the bones of children have not fully ossified and still contain a lot of growth cartilage. Sawing off the sternum can cause chest deformity (pigeon chest) and leave a long scar, which can have a serious psychological impact. At the same time, open surgery also increases the risk of bleeding, heart failure, respiratory complications and prolongs recovery time after surgery.
“Open surgery or endoscopic assistance may be easier, but I always try to perform total endoscopic surgery for children to minimize the risks of heart failure, bleeding and complications of pneumonia. The special thing is that with total endoscopic surgery, the incision is only as small as the tip of a pen, leaving almost no painful memories of the major cardiovascular surgery that the children have to undergo” - Dr. Huy shared.
Rare medical facility in the world that performs level 3 cardiac endoscopic surgery for children
Minimally invasive cardiac surgery is becoming a trend in Vietnam and around the world. This surgery is divided into 4 levels. The first two levels include non-laparoscopic surgery with a 6-10 cm long incision, and laparoscopic-assisted surgery with a 4-6 cm incision, using rib retractors.
Levels 3 and 4 are higher, which is total endoscopic heart surgery. Accordingly, the doctor only uses small trocars like the tip of a finger, does not need to open the ribs and the entire procedure is performed through endoscopy. Level 4, using robots in total endoscopic heart surgery, is currently only performed in developed countries.
Currently, most hospitals in Vietnam and Southeast Asia are only performing level 1 and 2 surgeries. Vinmec is one of the few hospitals in the world that has successfully performed level 3 endoscopic heart surgery for children. The surgeries are performed with close coordination between anesthesia, resuscitation, rehabilitation and post-operative care departments, ensuring that the surgery and recovery process is safe and effective.
“Patients undergoing minimally invasive heart surgery usually need about 2 months to fully recover, compared to 5-6 months for open surgery. In particular, with fully endoscopic surgery, recovery time usually takes only 1 month,” said Dr. Huy.
Dr. Dang Quang Huy is the leader in the design and development of endoscopic heart surgery at Vinmec. He has performed more than 2,500 heart surgeries, including more than 600 total endoscopic heart surgeries.
In particular, as a pioneer in performing complete endoscopic surgery for low birth weight infants, Dr. Huy is affectionately called “the endoscopist who lights up the heart” by many patient families and colleagues. He is also a leading prestigious name in the field of cardiology in the region and internationally.
Endoscopic cardiac surgery is capable of thoroughly treating many types of congenital malformations, including atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect, partial atrioventricular septal defect, left atrial septal defect, ectopic pulmonary vein, congenital tricuspid regurgitation, etc. According to statistics, more than 50% of congenital heart defects requiring surgery can be effectively treated with this method.
In addition to developing advanced techniques to improve health and shorten hospital stays for patients, Vinmec Cardiovascular Center also integrates financial solutions to help save costs so that patients can feel secure during treatment.
