Pedia­tric Heart Sur­gery

Spe­cia­li­zed pedia­tric heart sur­gery did not exist in Eritrea. We have chan­ged this: under the umbrel­la of ARCHEMED, two car­diac sur­gery teams from Ita­ly curr­ent­ly ope­ra­te on con­ge­ni­tal and acqui­red heart defects in Eri­tre­an child­ren. Up to 100 pati­ents under­go suc­cessful heart sur­gery every year. The sur­vi­val rate of over 98% is com­pa­ra­ble to tho­se of the best heart cen­ters world­wi­de. To ensu­re the suc­cess of the­se life-saving ope­ra­ti­ons, pre­ope­ra­ti­ve dia­gno­stics, spe­cial anes­the­sia and per­fu­si­on tech­ni­ques, sui­ta­ble sur­gi­cal stra­te­gies, and pro­fes­sio­nal post­ope­ra­ti­ve fol­low-up care—often invol­ving mecha­ni­cal ventilation—are man­da­to­ry. The­r­e­fo­re, the pedia­tric heart sur­gery mis­si­on includes a lar­ge num­ber of staff: pedia­tric car­dio­lo­gists, car­diac sur­ge­ons, OR and anes­the­sia staff, anes­the­sio­lo­gists and inten­si­ve care phy­si­ci­ans, nur­ses, and tech­ni­ci­ans.

Eri­tre­an spe­cia­list staff are always invol­ved in the car­diac sur­gery pro­ces­ses, trai­ned by us in car­diac dia­gno­stics, sur­gi­cal tech­ni­ques, and inten­si­ve care. The con­va­le­s­cence of the child­ren, who are often only a few weeks old, is remar­kab­ly short: infants are often breast­fed by their mothers just a few hours after the pro­ce­du­re.

Pro­ject Manage­ment

Prof. Gio­van­ni Stel­lin, Car­diac Sur­ge­on, Padua (I)
Dr. Bru­no Mur­zi, Car­diac Sur­ge­on, Mas­sa (I)