Al Gaslini reconstructed the heart of a 13-month-old Palestinian girl

Suffering from a serious heart disease, multiple life-saving interventions were required by two medical teams

GENOA – The heart of Eh, a 13-month-old Palestinian girl, beats strongly. The little girl, after a very risky flight that took her from Egypt to Italy, underwent a series of life-saving operations at the Gaslini Institute in Genoa which made it possible to reconstruct her heart organ. The little girl is now out of danger and was discharged this morning in good condition. The hope for giving Eh a future is due to a humanitarian mission coordinated by the Presidency of the Council with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Health and Defence, within which Gaslini coordinated, on behalf of the Ministry of Health, pediatric healthcare.
After an extremely risky transport from Egypt and thanks to the life-saving interventions of two multidisciplinary teams, who performed a correction of tetralogy of Fallot, with acorrective cardiac surgery for the recovery and reconstruction of both pulmonary arteries, with a valve from a human donorand division of the heart chambers. Subsequently, the little girl also underwent a delicate neuroendoscopic treatment of hydrocephalus.

FLIGHT TRANSPORTATION AT OTHER RISK, NECESSARY INTERVENTIONS
The little girl suffered from an extreme form of tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, absence of the left pulmonary artery, and a single right pulmonary artery stenosed and kept patent by a stent. Furthermore, he presented with obstructive tetraventricular hydrocephalus, in suspected Dandy Walker anomaly. The little girl had undergone a palliative surgical procedure at two weeks of age in Israel with the placement of a stent to maintain the patency of the ductus arteriosus.
The transfer to Italy from Egypt took place last March 11, with a flight from ‘Air Force and the assistance of a specialized Gaslini team. “The transport, although at high risk, made it possible to take multidisciplinary care of the little girl, through the coordinated action of six complex operational units of the institute: Intensive Care, Anesthesia, Radiology , Cardiology, Neurosurgery and Cardiac Surgery”explains the medical director of Gaslini, Raffaele Spiazzi. The first operations began on March 19th with a dilation of the stent, continued on April 3rd with the correction of the tetralogy of Fallot, thanks also to the donation of a valve arrived from Barcelona, and subsequently concluded with the neuroendoscopic treatment of the obstructive hydrocephalus.< br>“Today the little girl is discharged in excellent clinical conditions – continues Spiazzi – she will have to undergo a cardiological, cardiac surgical and neurosurgical follow-up, but theprobability of survival and long-term quality of life are favourable. These results, in such complex cases, are only possible thanks to the great work of a multi-professional team that includes extremely trained doctors, nurses and perfusion technicians dedicated to treating the most complicated situations”.