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31/03/2014

Woman with severe congenital heart disease gives birth thanks to a pioneer surgery during the pregnancy

2014_0084_2014_0084_IMATGE

31/03/2014

The 28 year-old patient underwent two surgeries during the gestation

A multidisciplinary team from Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, coordinated by Dr. David García Dorado, head of the Cardiocirculatory Pathology group, conducted a surgery on a 22 weeks’ pregnant woman, who was wearing a prosthesis that replaced the aortic valve. The prosthesis failed by the stress of the heart during the pregnancy, and consequently, she suffered heart failure and a severe stenosis that put her life and the fetus’ life at risk. The impaired heart function of the woman, who was born with a severe congenital heart disease, and the high risk of losing the fetus in a surgical operation (30%), the medical team led a pioneer technique, known as valve in valve. It consists in the implementation of an aortic prosthesis inside the prosthesis that she was already wearing, in order to repair it. The second prosthesis was implanted using minimally invasive techniques, through the introduction of a catheter into one of her femoral arteries, until arriving to the prosthesis that failed. The baby was born in January, in the 37 week of pregnancy. Both mother and child are healthy. It is the first time that this procedure is used in a pregnant woman.

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