MITERA Children’s Hospital: New treatment approaches for patients with congenital heart disease

Approximately 1 in every 100 children is born with congenital heart disease every year. The advancement of Fetal Echocardiology has made it possible to diagnose heart disease as early as the 14th week of pregnancy. Moreover, Pediatric Cardiology and Pediatric Cardiac Surgery have progressed immensely in the last decades, making it possible for children with congenital heart disease to fully recover and lead a normal life. However, proper surgical planning and optimal surgical results greatly depend on proper preoperative investigation of heart disease using the latest imaging methods, such as heart MRI and 3D ultrasound.

It is now possible to investigate and treat a great number of heart diseases by performing invasive cardiac catheterizations, or even combined procedures, including hybrid operations. These are performed by Cardiac Surgeons, assisted by Invasive Cardiologists.

These were some of the topics discussed during a Scientific Meeting entitled “Contemporary Treatment of Congenital Heart Disease: 40 years later”. The Meeting, held at MITERA Hospital on Sunday April 13, was attended by distinguished physicians from Greece and abroad. The guests included Professor Afksendiyos Kalangos, Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Director of the Cardiovascular Surgery Department at Geneva University Hospital and Scientific Associate at MITERA Children’s Hospital, who co-organized the meeting. The honorary guest was David Anderson, Professor of Children’s Heart Surgery at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, and Consultant at MITERA Children’s Hospital.

Ms Aphrodite Tzifa, Pediatric Cardiologist, Director of the MITERA Children’s Hospital Pediatric Cardiology Clinic and co-organizer of the Meeting, stated, “We are proud that MITERA Children’s Hospital can currently treat all cardiology cases, so that children do not have to travel abroad to seek treatment. The results of the pediatric cardiac surgery procedures currently performed at MITERA Children’s Hospital are comparable to those of the best centers abroad.”
On his part, Professor Afksendiyos Kalangos, Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Director of the Cardiovascular Surgery Department at Geneva University Hospital and Scientific Associate at MITERA Children’s Hospital, noted, “At MITERA Children’s Hospital, I am blessed to work with a team of pediatric cardiologists, intensivists and pediatric cardiac surgeons who are fully trained in congenital heart diseases. The preoperative approach and postoperative course of the patients I have operated on at MITERA Children’s Hospital to date have exceeded all expectations. The Meeting also focused on new surgical techniques that can fully restore certain congenital heart defects, which in the past were treated with palliative care rather than corrective procedures.”

Honorary guest David Anderson, Professor of Children’s Heart Surgery at Guy’s and St. Thomas’ Hospital, London, and Consultant at MITERA Children’s Hospital, added, “MITERA Children’s Hospital meets all the safe and sustainable standards established in Great Britain with regard to institutes that may perform Cardiac Surgery on neonates and children.”