The patient has been under the care of the Department of Congenital Heart Defects in Adolescents and Adults WUM and Prof. Magdalena Lipczyńska for years. However, due to the complexity of the defect, the woman's condition began to deteriorate – she grew tired more quickly, and one of the heart valves became increasingly incompetent and enabled blood to leak.
Since conventional cardiac surgery was associated with a very high risk, doctors decided on a modern, less invasive procedure performed via the blood vessels (the TEER procedure using the Pascal system). After a thorough analysis of the imaging tests performed by Dr Bartosz Rymuza and Piotr Ścisło, MD, PhD, the specialists found a way to reach the damaged valve and implant a device to reduce regurgitation.
The procedure was carried out by a team consisting of: Dr Adam Rdzanek – interventional cardiologist, Piotr Ścisło, MD, PhD – responsible for echocardiographic monitoring, with the support of Dr Jacek Kuźma – interventional pediatric cardiologist, Prof. Zenon Huczek – interventional cardiologist, Dr Izabela Krysińska – anesthesiologist, and Dr Michał Macech – vascular surgeon. Thanks to the procedure, the function of the valve was significantly improved and regurgitation was reduced.
The doctors emphasized that the treatment of such complicated cases was possible only in the most specialized centers and required close cooperation of numerous experts. In this case, the Department of Heart, Chest and Transplant Surgery headed by Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk cooperated with the Department of Cardiology headed by Prof. Marcin Grabowski.