Three heart transplants in children in two months is a lot. According to statistics from recent years, an average of 8-10 such procedures are performed annually in Poland. In the last year this number has increased to 15.
Three difficult operations
- We found three hearts for three of our little patients - says Prof. Mariusz Kuśmierczyk, Head of the Department of Heart, Thoracic and Transplant Surgery UCC MUW, who performed the transplants. - Two of the babies suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy, a type of heart muscle disease that causes the heart chambers (ventricles) to thin and stretch, growing larger. The third infant, on the other hand, had already undergone four cardiac surgeries and suffered from so-called pulmonary hypertension - which carried a very high risk of surgery failure - the professor adds.
Little patients feel good
All three transplants were successful. The children are alive and feeling better. Two have been discharged, the third will go home soon. The girl, who is still in the hospital, had complications related to covid-19. Fortunately, the infection was contained and the little patient will be able to return home in two to three weeks.
Very good prognosis
All three patients have thus been given the chance for a new life. Prof. Kuśmierczyk stresses that heart transplantation is an ideal solution for young children, especially infants who are born with dilated cardiomyopathy. Survival rates in such toddlers are much higher than for adults. What's more, transplanted children can live as active a life as their healthy peers. And when they grow up and find that their hearts have "worn out," they can undergo retransplantation and function normally again.
Optimistic statistics
- As for heart transplants in children, the number of them in Poland increased by half last year. In our department - which is a new center - we conducted five of them - says Prof. Kuśmierczyk.
So there is hope that thanks to the efforts of our specialists, more and more children who need heart transplants will be saved.