An exceptional paediatric cardiac surgery procedure using a minimally invasive technique

The team led by Prof. Vladimiro Vida, director of the Paediatric Cardiac Surgery UOC at the University Hospital of Padua, carried out an exceptional paediatric cardiac surgery operation using a minimally invasive technique on a four-year-old girl from the United Arab Emirates.

Congenital heart defects are structural abnormalities of the heart and the great vessels present from birth, with an incidence of eight cases per thousand births: currently, only 60 per cent of diagnoses are made within the first year of life. 

The girl, who had been under the care of Cardiac surgery at Columbia University, was taken on in Padua for severe congenital mitral valve stenosis, supravalvular and subvalvular mitral stenosis, secondary pulmonary hypertension, and aortic coarctation.

A minimally invasive approach was used, with right axillary minithoracotomy and peripheral cardiopulmonary bypass. The reparative surgery involved a complex mitral valve repair: resection of the supramitral membrane, valvular commissurotomy, and correction of the subvalvular apparatus. 

The procedure was completed with technical success, with early extubation on the same day, rapid haemodynamic stabilisation, and no complications whatsoever.

The team has transformed the sub-axillary approach from a selective procedure for simple defects into a surgical platform for valvular diseases and complex congenital anatomies, with advanced surgical planning using 3D models and virtual reality. 

The Hospital currently confirms its position as the centre with the broadest experience in minimally invasive cardiac surgery in Italy, with 300 procedures a year. 
Padua is the Italian centre with the highest national and international draw: indeed, 48 per cent of patients come from other Italian regions and often also from abroad, both because of the distinctive features of its treatments, and because of technological innovation and the highly personalised nature of its care.