A few years ago, each of these operations was an event, and people excitedly followed the work of the doctors, the courage of the patients, and the greatness of the decision of the donors’ families with sinking hearts.
Doctors from the Heart Institute presented our experience in using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Head of the scientific Department of Kidney Transplantation and Hemodialysis, PhD, Anesthesiologist Stepan Maruniak, made a report analyzing the main features of our ECMO center’s work during war.
Our mission was to remind the world of the challenging times our country is going through and the conditions under which medicine operates during Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and everyone witnessed the price we pay for this.
At the largest cardiac hospital in Canada, the Toronto General Hospital (Peter Munk Cardiac Center), the training was conducted under the guidance of the legendary cardiac surgeon, Dr. Tyrone David. In the American clinic Cedars-Sinai, the mentor was the brilliant Dr. Joanna Chikwe.
For this transplantation, the donor’s heart traveled a distance of over 300 km, which our team covered in just under 4 hours. In a groundbreaking move for Ukraine, we implemented the new Stanford technique, allowing for extended preservation and transportation time for the donor organ.
The conference represents a significant step in strengthening the community of specialized departments and continuous professional development for physicians involved in various aspects of functional diagnostics.
This internship was made possible through close collaboration between the administration of the Heart Institute and the French government, and upon the invitation of Dr. Mykola Myroshnyk, co-founder of the French-Ukrainian School of Advanced Doppler Echocardiography.
A 47-year-old woman presented to the Heart Institute complaining of general weakness, chest pain, and dizziness during physical exertion. Diagnostic examinations revealed a rare pathology—a giant coronary-atrial fistula. The surgical team decided to close the fistula endovascularly using spiral systems.
What made her case unique was that she had previously undergone surgery for mitral insufficiency (with implantation of a mechanical prosthesis) and tricuspid valve repair using a ring, 10 years prior.
The Heart Institute’s team saved the lives of two young men, aged 23 and 30 from Lviv and the Lugansk region.