First in History: JKCI performs surgery on toddler with rare heart condition

 

SURGEONS at Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) in collaboration with Open Heart International (OHI) from Australia, have performed 16 open heart surgeries with one rare condition of a toddler whose heart was located on the right side of her chest, instead of the left.

The surgery was conducted during a one-week heart surgery special camp at JKCI in which nine children and seven adults were operated.

JKCI Executive Director, Dr Mohamed Janabi, told reporters in Dar es Salaam, yesterday that the nine-month old toddler was from Magu District, Mwanza Region; she was born with dextrocardia, a rare heart condition in which the heart points toward the right side of the chest instead of left side.

“For the first time, we have successfully conducted a surgery to a toddler whose heart is on theright side and the four chambers were similar also her body colour turned to blue,” he noted.

Dr Janabi said during the surgery, they have been able to protect her lungs which were receiving a lot of blood from heart veins and implant, a pacemaker to help manage her irregular heartbeats.

Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon at JKCI, Dr Godwin Sharau said the problem was not being born with such condition, but the functionality of heart matters the most, as once they received the toddler they observed her heart veins were not working.

Dr Godwin said before the camp, nursing care course was conducted to equip nurses with best skills to handle patients admitted to Intensive Care Unit (ICU). “The aim of this mission is to upgrade our skills, to make sure we align with other surgeons worldwide as technology changes every day and learn better ways to handle complex heart problems,” he noted.

Expounding further, he said they have conducted Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) to adult patients and changed two to three aortic and mitral valves which were not working properly.

For children, we have conducted surgery to those whose heart chambers are not complete. He said the surgery was performed to children aged four months to four years; they have conducted preliminary surgery preparing them for the next one.

Director of OHI, Mr Russel Lee said it was such an honour for JKCI to embrace them as well as exciting to see progress in the surgeries conducted at the institute. “We have been working with paediatric team for quite some time now as we want to make sure Tanzanians get this kind of treatment within the country,” said Mr Lee.

Mr Lee further said that in the coming years, they would prefer to expand their services by supporting other areas of biomedical engineering and people running sterilization.

Dr Janabi urged all dispensaries, district and regional hospitals in the country to refer any child to JKCI whenever they observe they have heart problems like what Bugando hospital did to make sure the toddler celebrates her first birthday healthy.

He also made a call to community members to donate blood as much as possible to save lives of patients admitted to the institute; most of them need a lot of blood.