Paed­ia­tric heart sur­gery

The­re was no spe­cial paed­ia­tric heart sur­gery in Eri­trea. We have chan­ged this: Under the umbrel­la of ARCHEMED, two car­diac sur­gery teams from Ita­ly are curr­ent­ly ope­ra­ting on the con­ge­ni­tal and acqui­red heart defects of Eri­tre­an child­ren. Up to 100 pati­ents under­go suc­cessful heart sur­gery every year. The sur­vi­val rate of over 98% is com­pa­ra­ble to that of the best heart cen­tres world­wi­de. Pre-ope­ra­ti­ve dia­gno­stics, spe­cial anaes­the­sia and per­fu­si­on tech­ni­ques, sui­ta­ble sur­gi­cal stra­te­gies and pro­fes­sio­nal post-ope­ra­ti­ve tre­at­ment, often with arti­fi­ci­al respi­ra­ti­on, are essen­ti­al for the suc­cess of life-saving ope­ra­ti­ons. The paed­ia­tric car­diac sur­gery mis­si­on the­r­e­fo­re invol­ves a lar­ge num­ber of staff: paed­ia­tric car­dio­lo­gists, car­diac sur­ge­ons, ope­ra­ting theat­re and anaes­the­sia staff, anaes­the­tists and inten­si­ve care doc­tors, nur­ses, carers and tech­ni­ci­ans.

Eri­tre­an spe­cia­lists, trai­ned by us in car­diac dia­gno­stics, sur­gi­cal tech­ni­ques and inten­si­ve care, are always invol­ved in the car­diac sur­gery pro­ce­du­res. The con­va­le­s­cence of the child­ren, who are often only a few weeks old, is extre­me­ly short: the infant is often breast­fed by the mother just a few hours after the ope­ra­ti­on.

Pro­ject manage­ment

Prof Gio­van­ni Stel­lin, car­diac sur­ge­on, Padua (I)
Dr Bru­no Mur­zi, car­diac sur­ge­on, Mas­sa (I)