Malignant tumour removed via heart autotransplantation for first time in Ukraine
A cancerous tumour was removed from the heart via autotransplantation in the Ternopil Oblast Clinical Hospital, for the first time in Ukraine – to eliminate the neoplasm from the left atrium, the organ was removed from the chest.
The operation lasted 13 hours. The patient was connected to an artificial respiration machine, as reported by the Ternopil Oblast Military Administration.
The unique operation was performed on a 45-year-old serviceman who was wounded in action. Before, the man was diagnosed with mitral insufficiency (a heart defect in which the mitral valve is not closed properly).
"A serviceman was sent to our department for a planned operation. During the diagnosis, we saw a certain mass in the left atrium, perceived as thrombotic.
When they started the operation, they found a tumour. We took a sample and decided not to continue the planned operation: we had to prepare for such a large-scale intervention", said Volodymyr Moroz, a heart surgeon and head of the Department of Cardiac Surgery and Transplantology of the Ternopil Oblast Clinical Hospital.
According to Volodymyr Moroz, the heart had to be removed to gain access to the neoplasm. Therefore, the operation took place in two stages. The first stage involved the removal of the heart and then of the tumour fragments. The second stage involved working directly with the heart, restoring the man's left atrium and installing a new mitral valve.
The postoperative period was difficult, doctors say.
"Now the patient's condition is satisfactory. We discharged him from the hospital. He is with his family in Kyiv. He is also undergoing rehabilitation and special treatment," noted Volodymyr Moroz.
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