Head of the Adult Cardiology Department at the Chest Diseases Hospital, Dr. Abdullah Al-Enezi, confirmed the hospital’s success in treating 14 serious and intractable cases of dangerous ventricular arrhythmias using the “Cauterization with the Support of the Heart and Lung Device (VA ECMO)” program, which is the first of its kind in Kuwait and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Al-Enezi told Al-Rai daily, “Some heart patients suffer from dangerous ventricular heartbeats that threaten their lives, and they are treated using the catheter technique. However, some of these patients suffer from severe weakness in the heart muscle, and cauterization cannot be performed in such cases” because of the high risk to their lives.
He added that to treat these difficult cases, cooperation took place between cardiologists Dr. Fawzia Al-Kandari and Dr. Abdullah Jamaan, Dr. Khaled Al-Marri and Dr. Abdullah Al-Anzi, and doctors of the Anesthesiology Department, and the cooperation resulted in the establishment of an integrated program to treat such difficult cases.
Al-Enezi noted that the program succeeded in treating 14 intractable cases within three years, pointing out that the program relies on the installation of a heart and lung support device (VA ECMO) by catheters, then the cauterization process is done through catheters by cardiologists, and the cauterization process is performed Without high risk thanks to the use of the VA ECMO, and after the cauterization process is complete, the catheters remove the VA ECMO.
Al-Enezi stressed that this program contributes to reducing the suffering of patients by providing an alternative to traveling abroad to receive treatment, as well as reducing the financial burdens borne by the state budget, as it is a new link in the chain of achievements of the Chest Diseases Hospital, which aims to develop the medical services provided. heart patients in the country.
