Amman Jordan Riley Heart Mission #37 – Day 3
Rouh had some trouble yesterday evening after developing a pneumothorax (free air in the chest) that required chest tubes to be placed. Wateen had a fast heart rate, and Mohannad was struggling to be comfortable enough to rest. But eventually they all responded to the team’s efforts and interventions and the rest of the night was uneventful.
Our GOLA friends celebrated Maha’s birthday at a lovely Italian restaurant after we were able to leave the hospital.
Our first case this morning is Basmah Al Muhammad. She is a 15 year old from Syria and is the eldest child in her family of five. She has a very large atrial septal defect. Although we can sometimes close this type of defect in the Cath lab with a device, her defect is potentially too large and there is not enough rim on some of the edges for this method.
The ASD closure went well. And we will move on to the next of 3 cases today. Abdul Al Reqeb is a Jordanian/Palestinian 6 yr old boy with a recently diagnosed severe coarctation of the aorta.
In the operating room the narrowing of the aorta was even more severe than what the echo showed. in addition there were several large “collateral” vessels that helped blood bypass the narrowing but added complexity to the repair. Afterwards the maximum pressure differential from above the repair to below the narrowing was about 10 mmHg which reflects a good result.
The last patient today is Omar Abdullah. He is a 2 year old from Syria with a severe aortic valve stenosis. The valve was very thick and abnormal. There was a dilated aorta above the valve. He also had an atrial septal defect and a slight membrane in the left atrium. All of these things were addressed by Dr. Mark. Before surgery the mean pressure gradient across the valve was ~50 mmHg. Afterwords the mean pressure gradient was 12 mmHg.
Riley International Heart Missions 
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