Heart transplantation of a 9-months old baby-girl

In the clinic in Zabrze was transplanted a heart of a 9-months old baby girl. She is the youngest patient in Poland who went through such operation. The doctor do not hide that the most difficult was to find the donor.

The donor must be at similar age, best if it's a bit older. But if the heart was too big, the surgeon would have technical problems to fit into the chest of the patient.

The operation lasted for 6 hours. "Despite the enormous pressure and fear the operation was performed without any recorded complications. These six hours is a scale needed for transplantation, making the heart run and going out on the ward to extube a patient", explained the doctor.

The girl whose heart has been transplanted suffered from the inborn cardiomypathy. Cardiomypathy is a group of heart muscle deseases causing the deterioration of the function of the actual heart muscle or sudden cordiac death.

The desease was diagnosed when the child was 5-months old and one month later it was qualified to operation.