The Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra (CHUC) announced on Monday that the first heart transplant in the Central region performed on a patient with a long-term ventricular assist device (VAD) was “a success.”
In a statement, the hospital structure revealed that a 48-year-old man with severe pulmonary arterial hypertension underwent an “innovative and highly differentiated” procedure by the team of the Cardiothoracic Surgery and Transplant Service (CCT), directed by David Prieto.
The patient, who arrived at this service in 2020, had already been “evaluated in other centers in Portugal and considered unfit to be transplanted to the heart due to severe pulmonary arterial hypertension (PHT), considered irreversible,” the note added. .
After a “careful clinical review” and multiple tests, a long-term ventricular assist device was implanted in the patient “as a bridge to be a future transplant candidate”that took place in a Hospital in Barcelona, in October 2020, although the CCT currently performs said procedure.
The 48-year-old patient underwent a transplant in May and was considered by the hospital service “a success story, which reflects well the resilience of patients and excellence” from CHUC.
“This case is an important milestone for the CHUC, as it demonstrates that the evolution of technology allows heart transplants to be performed in situations that were previously considered inoperable, making the list of contraindications for transplantation ever shorter,” he highlights. the CCT, cited in the statement.
The note adds that “it is also proof that the CHUC and in this case the Advanced Heart Failure Unit and the Cardiothoracic Surgery Service of the CHUC are at the forefront in the field of technology and innovation.”
Source: Observadora
