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Successful surgical treatment of rare congenital heart disease
Dr. Wu Qingyu, Professor of Cardiovascular Surgery from the First Hospital of Tsinghua University, recently reported a successful surgical technique for the treatment of an unusual pathological anatomy of Ebstein’s anomaly.
Ebstein’s anomaly is a complex and severe congenital heart disease. Its common morphological change is the downward displacement of the septal and posterior leaflets, with the anterior leaflet remaining in the normal position. It is very rare for the anterior leaflet to displace downward while the septal and posterior leaflets remain in the normal position, although both leaflets may be hypoplastic.
Patients suffering from Ebstein’s anomaly may have symptoms of palpitations, shortness of breath, cyanosis and poor cardiac function. They have a low quality of life and may even die from heart failure, anoxia and arrhythmia if they cannot get timely and effective surgical treatment. Some patients present life-threatening symptoms such as dyspnea and congestive heart failure. The one-year survival rate is about 15%, of whom up to a half may die before they reach the age of 2.
The anatomical repair technique developed by Dr. Wu has proved to be the best surgical treatment. Six patients with the abnormality underwent anatomical repair by Dr. Wu at the First Hospital of Tsinghua University, and excellent results were achieved. At follow-up from 2 months to 7 years, no notable tricuspid valve regurgitation or stenosis was found.
Dr. Wu’s team reported their achievements in the article, “Anatomical Repair of Ebstein's Anomaly with Isolated Anterior Leaflet Downward Displacement”, published in the October 2014 edition of the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, the official journal of American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS). This was the first report of cases with such kind of abnormality.
Dr. Wu is a renowned cardiac surgeon, who pioneered surgical treatments of congenital heart diseases. He was the first Chinese surgeon invited to speak on the topic of “Surgical Treatment of Ebstein’s Anomaly” at the 87th annual meeting of AATS. He is also a governing councilor representing China and Asia on the World Society for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery.
Dr. Prof. Wu is performing a cardiac operation with his surgical team
