Bogotá.-Colombian surgeons implant an artificial heart to Carol Mariana Acosta, a ten-year-old girl, she became the youngest patient to receive this type of device, controlled by a lower load system in a small suitcase. Medical sources reported to EfeLa surgery, which took nine hours, was carried out by specialists from the Cardiovascular Foundation of Colombia (FCV) in the city of Bucaramanga, capital of the Department of Santander (north), and allowed Carol Mariana to carry a Normal life after having a deteriorated heart. Four years ago, the small patient was diagnosed with liver cancer and was subjected to surgery to remove the tumor and then started her chemotherapy treatment with a drug that generated a “heart toxicity”. The director of the program of Artificial heart of the FCV, Leonardo Salazar, told Efe that with the implant allows the patient “to have an active life, normal, like going to school, play, among others.”
Artificial heart implanted in the girl. Efe
One of the challenges for the team was that it had to “adapt a device that is made for adults, and attach it to the girl’s chest, without there being any problems.” Additional, special training is required for the girl and her family so that they can manipulate the device and have no inconvenience. The Galen explained that the implanted system “removes the symptoms of heart failure that previously weakened”. The surgeon added that the biotechnology was designed with a rotor that “runs at a speed of 2400 revolutions per minute and this pumps 4 or 5 liters of blood per minute in the circulation of the girl.”
This case is the youngest patient to receive an artificial heart transplant
However, the risks for the life of a 10-year-old girl are latent, because, according to the Doctor Salazar, the artificial heart is fed by batteries or electricity and in case of not being charged or a fault in the system, the Girl Can “die in a few seconds”. ” Inside the apparatus, there is a rotor that is like a circular propeller, and this rotor exercised magnetically by some magnets that has the system, then it floats, turns and this rotation propels the blood, “I point out. This artificial heart has the ability to pump the blood that crosses the entire blood stream of the girl and is monitored by an “external system” that is connected to Carol’s body and that carries in a small suitcase.
Initially, the cardiac failure was treated with drugs for three years, but in the last one, Carol had to be hospitalized five times because of the severity of her state of health. Now, with his new heart, the girl leads a normal life as the device can last up to thirty years and the only thing you can not do is enjoy the pool because the appliance can not get wet. Currently, the girl has already been discharged and therapies, she is close to traveling to Bogotá, the city she resides in, waiting to resume her usual activities. The Cardiovascular foundation of Colombia is the most experienced center in Latin America in technological devices that replace the function of the heart and lung. Efe
Original source in Spanish
