For the first time in the country, the Salvadoran Social Security Institute (ISSS) developed the percutaneous closure of an atrial septal defect, a congenital defect that affected a beneficiary. The intervention was carried out by the multidisciplinary team of the Endovascular Therapy Unit of the Surgical Medical Hospital and Mexican doctors.
This procedure was part of the development of the XXXII Central American and Caribbean Congress of Cardiology and the XLIII National Congress of Cardiology, which brought together more than 400 specialists, including ISSS doctors, in which the Heart Team of the Miami Cardiac & Vascular Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida, led by Salvadoran doctor Ramón Quesada, medical director, shared different innovations developed in cardiology.
The surgery was broadcast live from the MQ Hospital to the hotel in the capital, where one of the days of the congress took place, and was supervised by the general director of the ISSS, Mónica Ayala.
For the execution of procedures of this type, the institution has acquired 40 closure devices for congenital heart disease, as well as 48 valves for TAVI aortic valve implantation, which translates into $1.4 million in the purchase of supplies planned for the years 2022–2023.
“We are avoiding open heart surgery, which would have a recovery of at least 10 for the patient, and now we are going to do it endovascular,” said Dr. Ayala.
The intervention was led by interventional cardiologists from the Endovascular Therapy Unit of the ISSS Surgical Medical Hospital. Dr. Roberto Mijangos, cardiologist of Mexican nationality and specialist in congenital interventionism, and Dr. Adrián Sánchez, hemodynamist of the Regional Hospital of Tijuana, also accompanied
Dr. Mijangos explained what the procedure consisted of and said that: “We closed a congenital defect. The patient was born with that defect between both atria. We closed the defect with a device that has nickel and titanium. This procedure has the advantage that it is done through the leg in the femoral vein. We have access to the heart to be able to find the defect, and with the help of transesophageal ultrasound, we locate the defect, measure it, and see the device that best suits it. This is what we did with this patient, closing this defect with an 18-millimeter device.”