Another three very complex cardiac procedures were performed at the Institute for Cardiovascular Diseases “Dedinje”, in three younger patients, who were prevented from having a normal life due to aortic stenosis or narrowing of the aortic valve. Cardiac surgeons at the Institute “Dedinje” performed the “Ross procedure”, i.e. the procedure of replacing aortic valve with patient’s own pulmonary artery valve, since this heart defect made it difficult for patients to eject blood from the left ventricle into the aorta. This extremely demanding procedure, which was performed for the first time at the Institute “Dedinje” among adult patients in the population of the Western Balkans a little less than a year ago, was once again performed by a medical team of experts from the Institute led by the cardiac surgeon doc. dr Slobodan Mićović in cooperation with prof. dr. Gebrine El-Khoury, a world- renowned cardiac surgeon at the Saint-Luc University Clinic in Brussels.
– Ross procedure is a complicated procedure, which is performed only in the largest centers in North America, Europe and Australia, and in centers with a large number of patients it achieves excellent results, which demonstrate that patients treated with this procedure have excellent quality of life and live as long as those with a healthy heart. This is an ideal intervention for young patients aged 18 to 50, fit to work, for athletes, and especially for women who want to give birth to a child. The Institute “Dedinje” launched a program for resolving severe aortic stenosis in young patients, where a pulmonary autograft is implanted at the aortic position, while special biological valves are placed on the pulmonary arteries. This ensures a far more comfortable life for patients, since there are no complications related to artificial valves, such as secondary infections that can occur, taking uncomfortable lifelong anticoagulant therapy is not required …- says doc. dr Mićović and confirms that the operations were successfully completed this time as well and that the course of postoperative recovery of the patients is going well.
Prof. El-Kuri is one of the most eminent and most famous cardiac surgeons in the field of reconstructive valve surgery. He is one of the founders of the aortic and mitral valve repair technique by applying ‘Ross procedure”. Numerous experts, including medical doctors from the Institute “Dedinje”, were trained at his hospital, the Saint-Luc University Clinic in Brussels.
– I am happy to be at “Dedinje” again. Medical doctors at this Institute are my long-time friends, and some of them were also my students – said prof. dr Gebrine El-Khoury and added that there was no ideal replacement for a damaged aortic valve, whether biological or mechanical valve, because each of them, over time, may result in certain complications. Therefore, it is particularly important for young patients to find an ideal and long-lasting substitute, and “Ross procedure” offers precisely what is need.
