Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tien (second, from left) and the intervention team implanted a cardiac resynchronization device to treat heart failure for patient Ng.
The patient Tran Thi Ng. (23 years old), suffering from end-stage heart failure, was admitted to the hospital on October 4 with shortness of breath and fatigue. She had a history of cardiomyopathy, grade 3-4 heart failure, and complete left bundle branch block for 7 years.
Patient Ng.’s daily activities had been limited because of the poor contraction of the heart and the asymmetric contraction of the cardiac muscle due to problem with arrhythmias. The patient had to undergo treatment for heart failure and was enlisted for a heart transplantation; however, due to her difficult circumstances, the heart transplant could not be performed.
On October 6, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hoang Anh Tien and the cardiac intervention team of Cardiovascular Center of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy with the support of optimization programming of Prof. Dr. Tran Thong (from California, USA, honorary professor of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vietnam Heart Rhythm Society’s technical advisor) have successfully implanted heart resynchronization device to treat heart failure for the patient.
This was a device for treatment of end-stage heart failure with the technique of biventricular pacing (Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy) brought to patients with difficult economic conditions by Prof. Dr. Tran Thong.
Patient Ng. (gray shirt) got better and could be discharged in the next few days. In the photo, doctors were programming to optimize the cardiac pacemaker with new techniques of treatment for patients.
According to Prof. Huynh Van Minh, Director of the Cardiovascular Center, the biventricular pacemaker is a device that helps the heart muscle contract harmonically, increasing the ejection fraction of the heart, treating end-stage heart failure. The technique of placing cardiac resynchronization device with the traditional method has been carried out at the Hospital of University of Medicine and Pharmacy since 2012, however, this time the technique of CRT with the new method with biventricular pacing reduced the cost of treatment to only 1/3 of the previous cost - 150 million (previously the cost was 500 million) while maintaining effective treatment for heart failure.
After the device being placed, patient Ng. was monitored regularly by the medical team of the Cardiovascular Center of Hospital of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy and the programming of the device was optimized for the cardiac activities. Currently, patient Ng.’s health has improved with less shortness of breath. She would be discharged in the next 3 days.
“At present, the Hospital of University of Medicine and Pharmacy is focusing on developing advanced technologies, enhancing the exchange of experience from experts around the world and especially prioritizing advanced technologies at an affordable price such as the CRT, which was successfully applied this time”, Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Khoa Hung, Acting Director of Hospital of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy informed.
By Ngoc Ha