Peter Krcho, head of the neonatal clinic (source: SITA)
IN EARLY May, doctors saved the life of an eight-months pregnant woman and her baby.
The woman, who had suffered an acute heart attack, underwent complex surgery in the Eastern-Slovak Institute of Heart and Arterial Diseases in Košice (VÚSCH). The surgery lasted more than eight hours and resulted in the survival of the woman, 31, and her baby, the general director of the VÚSCH and the head of its heart surgery clinic František Sabol, told the TASR newswire.
The baby was born via Caesarian section. Both mother and baby were later reported to be in a stable condition.
The case was the first of its kind handled by VÚSCH. Sabol said that the patient was flown in the evening of April 29 from Poprad Hospital by helicopter; the birth occurred at the maternity hospital of the Louis Pasteur University Teaching Hospital, in the heart-surgery room, and the heart operation followed.
The woman’s blood circulation was temporarily stopped, her heart valve and aorta were replaced and she underwent a triple bypass. Sabol said that the patient still requires mechanical heart support and may need a heart transplant sometime in the future.
The head of the neonatal clinic, Peter Krcho, said the baby, born in the 33rd week of pregnancy, weighed 1,580 grams and has been disconnected from all medical support devices.
The mother is now hospitalised in Bratislava in a serious but stable condition and her husband and parents have visited her.
Dr. Ingrid Olejárová, of the National Institute of Heart and Vascular Diseases in Bratislava, said if all goes well the mother’s heart could soon be working without the support of medical devices.
