The Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi's first balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty procedure was carried out at its Catheterisation Laboratory by Dr Neil Brass, an interventional cardiologist at the Royal Alexander Hospital in Canada. He was assisted by Dr Harun A. Otieno, an interventional cardiologist at the University Hospital.
Dr Harun Otieno explained, “There are four valves in the heart, the aortic, pulmonary, mitral and tricuspid. The valves open and close to regulate blood flow from one chamber to the other and are vital to the efficient functioning of the heart.”
“Pulmonic stenosis is a heart condition that reduces the opening of the pulmonary valve leading to pressure building up in the right side of the heart. Over the years this causes the heart muscle to work harder; it may eventually lead to heart failure. This condition is normally detected and treated in childhood by stretching open the tight pulmonic valve by a balloon-tipped tube or, if very severe, through open heart surgery. It is not very common for middle aged adults to present with this condition.”
“The balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty treatment is a minimally invasive procedure used to open the narrowed pulmonary valves and improve blood flow. A thin tube, a catheter, tipped with a small deflated balloon is inserted through the patient’s skin in the groin area into a blood vessel. This is threaded through to the heart and to the narrowed heart valve. The balloon is then inflated to stretch the valve open and relieve the obstruction.”
“The procedure is carried out in our state-of-the-art Catheterisation Laboratory, which has X-ray and haemodynamic monitors that can visualise arteries while the heart is beating as well as measure the pressures right inside the heart chambers and arteries.”
Dr Harun Otieno added “Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi has also become the first hospital in the region to provide a radial access approach to coronary angioplasty. This technique is used to widen the blocked coronary artery of the heart through access from a hand (radial) artery as opposed to a thigh (femoral) artery. A catheter with a small balloon on the end is threaded up to the artery and the balloon is inflated to stretch the artery open and to allow blood to flow easily to feed the heart muscle.”
The University Hospital, Nairobi's cardiologists are working in partnership with Canadian cardiac doctors from the Royal Alexandra Hospital and University of Alberta to develop the first regional radial arterial access Catheterisation Laboratory in Kenya. This will provide state-of-the-art care for patients suffering from heart attacks and pain due to blocked heart arteries, as well as other cardiac illnesses.
By the second quarter of 2010, a second cardiac catheterisation laboratory and comprehensive cardiac surgery operating theatre and intensive care unit will be housed in a US$ 46 million Heart and Cancer Centre, under construction at the University Hospital. The Centre will be the only one of its kind in East and Central Sub-Saharan Africa, and will serve as a regional referral heart and cancer centre. In addition to providing high quality tertiary cardiac and cancer care, the Centre will be a platform for scientific research and postgraduate sub-speciality fellowship training.
