Today the doctors of the Children’s Surgery National Applied Research Hospital (CSNARH) has agreed to start collaboration with their Moscow colleagues during the conference at the Academy of Sciences. First of all, collaboration concerns mastering new techniques in the treatment of pediatric arrhythmology. Such surgeries are not carried out in Minsk yet; the first patients will be operated next year. Nadezhda Serbinenko got acquainted with the rescuers of children’s lives.
Eighth-grader Victoria is one of the veteran patients in CSNARH. The girl’s life has been totally changed in just three weeks of inpatient stay in CSNARH. Ehlers-Danlos syndrome – a very rare disease – has caused deformity of the chest. Also the girl has a serious heart disease. Due to the most complex surgery Vika has been saved from two problems at once.
The surgeons retrieve small patients when there is almost no hope. Near one thousand complex cardiac surgeries are performed in CSNARH every year. Babies are operated in 15% of cases. When the heart weighs only 20 grams, the work of a cardiac surgeon turns into a jewelry skill. In CSNARH the operations on the heart are carried out to patients with a minimum weight of 500 grams – and literally from the first hours of life. In the intensive care unit, the condition of small patients is monitored 24 hours a day. Modern equipment helps the doctors with this practice. Today cardiac surgeons have radically changed the approach to operations. They prefer minimally invasive operations to avoid large incisions and to accelerate rehabilitation. The endovascular method allows you to perform a heart surgery through small punctures on the leg. Today, about half of all children’s cardiac operations are minimally invasive. After them, small patients are discharged literally in a day. The effectiveness of the use of the latest world developments in medicine has been discussed today during the scientific conference at the Academy of Sciences. Minsk and Moscow doctors will soon unite their experience in pediatric arrhythmology. Minsk surgeons will perform the first heart rythm disturbance surgery in children at the beginning of next year. Until that time, a number of scientific seminars and internships abroad are planned.
By Nadezhda Serbienko, The News Agency of Belteleradiocompany
