Over the last five years, Chadasha and GOLI have been supporting the peds cardiac program at CEDIMAT, which has progressed in terms of case complexity and adopted various protocols to enhance patient care and outcomes.
On this training visit to CEDIMAT, we treated 20 children between surgeries and cath procedures. We dealt with high-complexity cases, including Pulmonary Atresia and Single Ventricles for their final palliation stage (FONTAN Procedure).
One of the innovative procedures we performed this time was the interventional completion of an extracardiac FONTAN. This is an ingenious technique that involves performing the last stage of single-ventricle palliation in the cath lab. On this occasion, two patients underwent successful Fontan completion using this technique. This is the 3rd case done in the Dominican Republic and one of just a few completed worldwide (larger series in India).
The story of Abraham Pichardo is remarkable. He is a patient with a single ventricle who, two years ago, was thought to be inoperable due to severe single ventricle dysfunction. This devastating news left his family heartbroken; however, they never lost hope. Abraham was placed on heart failure medication and returned to the hospital for assessment. Miraculously, his ventricle recovered enough for him to be reconsidered as a candidate for surgery. After a lengthy discussion, we decided to perform hemodynamic studies in the catheterization lab to determine if he could proceed with the Glenn procedure, which is one of the stages of single ventricle palliation. Following the catheter study, we concluded that, despite the risks, he should have the opportunity for surgery. He underwent the procedure and had an uneventful postoperative recovery. Today, Abraham is back home with his family, feeling like a new person. This incredible story would not have been possible without a miracle and the dedication of our clinical team.
Without the partnership between Chadasha and GOLI and the expertise of our clinical teams, the vast majority of these procedures could not have been performed. However, It is essential to acknowledge the significant improvement in the local team’s performance and how we believe many of these procedures will soon be performed entirely by the local team at CEDIMAT.
We are already preparing for our next visit to the Dominican Republic. In the meantime, our teams will conduct training visits and provide care to children in Honduras and Guyana before returning to CEDIMAT in October this year.
Trip Gallery
