Cuban Doctors Save Child from Congenital Heart Condition with Complex Surgery

Cuban doctors at the Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara Cardiology Center in the central city of Santa Clara saved the life of a child suffering from congenital heart condition after administering a complex heart-lung combined surgery.

The child Angelo Reinier was suffering from what is known as inter-ventricular communication, said his mother Ayme Gomez, while the doctors also detected moderate heart valve malfunction and risk of lung embolism. The child also had a injury in the lower lobule of the lung as a consequence of a disease caused by fungi, two years ago.
The doctors decided to carry out the lung-heart surgery in one go; a complicated procedure never before administered in Cuba, said doctor Francisco Javier. With the experience of 500 pediatric surgeries, the medical team headed by doctor Javier applied an open heart surgery during five hours to save child Angelo Reinier, who was discharged from hospital after good progress during 18 years of hospitalization.